Ventas Stock Rallies 16.2% in Three Months: Will It Continue to Gain?

Shares of Ventas VTR have risen 16.2% over the past three months compared with the industry’s 1.5% growth.

The rising healthcare spending and an aging population will aid Ventas’ senior housing operating portfolio. Also, accretive investments in the research portfolio and a solid balance sheet bode well.

Last month, this healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) reported third-quarter 2025 normalized funds from operations (FFO) per share of 88 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents. The reported figure increased 10% from the prior-year quarter’s tally.

Results reflected an increase in same-store cash net operating income (NOI) year over year, driven by strong performance in the senior housing operating portfolio (SHOP) and outpatient medical and research (OM&R) portfolio. The company has increased its guidance for 2025 normalized FFO per share.

Analysts seem positive on this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) REIT. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 FFO per share has been revised marginally northward to $3.47 over the past month.

Factors Behind VTR’s Stock Price Rise

The senior citizens’ population is expected to rise in the years ahead. As a result, the national healthcare expenditure by senior citizens, who constitute a major customer base of healthcare services and incur higher healthcare expenditures than the average population, is likely to increase in the upcoming period. Per the company’s third-quarter 2025 earnings presentation, the U.S. population aged 80 years and above is expected to grow 28% in the next five years, driving significant demand for senior housing. Hence, Ventas is well-prepared for a compelling multiyear growth opportunity.

Ventas’ senior housing portfolio is positioned in markets with favorable demographics, strong net absorption and affordability. This healthcare REIT is experiencing healthy occupancy levels, backed by an acceleration in the SHOP demand. It plans to continue to drive SHOP growth and expand its SHOP footprint with accretive investments. The strategy of converting its lower-occupied triple-net communities to SHOP bolsters the long-term growth potential in the SHOP portfolio. In the third quarter of 2025, Ventas generated 15.9% same-store cash NOI year-over-year growth in the SHOP portfolio.

Ventas is carrying out accretive investments to enhance its research portfolio, which is essential for the delivery of crucial healthcare services and research related to life-saving vaccines and therapeutics. With top-rated tenants and long-lease terms, its high-quality portfolio assures steady growth in cash flows. In the OM&R portfolio, Ventas generated 3.7% same-store cash NOI growth in the third quarter of 2025.

Ventas follows a disciplined capital-recycling strategy, through which it disposes of non-core assets and redeploys the proceeds in premium asset acquisitions. Such efforts help the company improve its financial position and address the concerns surrounding the tenant base. In the third quarter of 2025, Ventas sold four properties in its OM&R segment for $9.8 million and five senior housing communities from its SHOP segment for $68.1 million at its share. During the same period, it acquired 20 senior housing communities as part of its SHOP segment for $1.1 billion at its share.

Ventas has been making efforts to enhance its liquidity position and financial strength. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company had approximately $4.1 billion of liquidity. In the third quarter of 2025, its net debt to further adjusted EBITDA improved to 5.3X from 6.3X at the prior-year quarter end. Its access to diverse capital sources through capital recycling, third-party (VIM), on-balance sheet financing and internal cash flow provides ample financial flexibility and is likely to support its growth endeavors.

Risks Likely to Affect VTR’s Positive Trend

Competition from national and local operators is likely to hurt Ventas’ pricing power, and dependence on a few tenants poses key concerns. A substantial debt burden adds to its woes.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Digital Realty Trust DLR and W.P. Carey WPC, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DLR’s 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $7.35, which indicates year-over-year growth of 9.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WPC’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $4.92, which calls for an increase of 4.7% from the year-ago period.

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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