4 Reasons to Add Welltower Stock to Your Portfolio Right Now

Welltower Inc. WELL boasts a diversified portfolio of healthcare real estate assets in the key markets of the United States, Canada and the U.K. The favorable senior housing industry, restructuring efforts, and a healthy balance sheet are likely to continue aiding this Toledo, OH-based healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) in riding the growth curve.

Analysts seem bullish on this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WELL’s 2025 FFO per share has moved a cent northward over the past week to $5.07, with an expected rise of 17.4% from last year.

Shares of this company have gained 9.8% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 1% growth.

Factors That Make Welltower a Solid Pick

Favorable SHO Portfolio Dynamics: Given an aging population and an expected rise in senior citizens’ healthcare expenditure, Welltower’s seniors’ housing operating (SHO) portfolio is well-poised to experience solid demand.

With a supply-demand imbalance, the portfolio is expected to experience sustained occupancy growth in 2025 and the coming years. Capitalizing on these positive aspects, Welltower’s SHO portfolio is well-prepared for compelling multiyear revenue growth.

The second quarter of 2025 marked the 11th consecutive quarter in which SHO’s same-store net operating income (SSNOI) year-over-year growth exceeded 20%. In 2025, management anticipated the SHO SSNOI to grow within 18.5-21.5%, driven by same-store revenue growth of 9.2%, occupancy rise of 360 basis points and expense increase of 5.25%.

Favorable OM Visit Trend: There has been a favorable outpatient visit trend compared with inpatient admissions. Banking on this, the company is optimizing its outpatient medical (OM) portfolio, growing relationships with health system partners, and deploying capital in strategic acquisitions.

Given the favorable secular trends and growing need for value-based care, the company’s efforts to strengthen its OM footprint will boost long-term growth.

Restructuring Efforts: Restructuring initiatives have enabled the company to attract top-class operators, facilitating the company to improve the quality of its cash flows.

From the beginning of the year through July 28, 2025, Welltower completed $3.96 billion of pro-rata gross investments, including $3.7 billion in acquisitions and loan funding, and $254.9 million in development funding.

Balance Sheet Strength: Welltower maintains a healthy balance sheet position. As of June 30, 2025, it had $9.5 billion of available liquidity. The net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 2.93X, improving from 3.68X year over year, as of June 30, 2025. Moreover, Welltower’s debt maturities are well-laddered, with a weighted average maturity of 5.8 years, thereby enhancing its financial flexibility.

In the first quarter of 2025, S&P Global Ratings and Moody's Investor Service raised their credit ratings related to the company to "A-" with a stable outlook and to "A3" with a stable outlook, respectively.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Plymouth Industrial REIT PLYM and Crown Castle CCI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PLYM’s 2025 FFO per share has moved 2 cents northward to $1.88 over the past two months.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CCI’s 2025 FFO per share has moved 3 cents upward to $4.21 over the past two months.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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