Welltower Stock Rallies 48.1% YTD: Will It Continue to Gain?

Shares of Welltower WELL have gained 48.1% year to date, outperforming the industry’s upside of 5.2%.

Welltower boasts a well-diversified portfolio of healthcare real estate assets in the key markets of the United States, Canada and the U.K. Given an aging population and an expected rise in senior citizens’ healthcare expenditure, its seniors housing operating portfolio (SHOP) is well-poised to experience solid demand. The outpatient medical (OM) segment is expected to gain from the favorable outpatient visit trends in the near term. Its strategic restructuring initiatives have enabled it to attract top-class operators and improve cash flows.

Analysts seem positive on this healthcare REIT, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2025 FFO per share has been revised marginally northward to $5.25 over the past week.

Factors Behind WELL’s Stock Price Rise

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. Muted new supply has also been a tailwind for this industry. Given these circumstances, Welltower’s SHO portfolio remains well-poised to capitalize on this positive trend.

There has been a favorable outpatient visit trend compared with inpatient admissions. 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.

Welltower remains focused on improving its SHO portfolio through the addition of strategic properties and the recycling of capital through dispositions. From the beginning of the year through Oct. 27, 2025, Welltower completed $5.82 billion of pro-rata gross investments, including $5.47 billion in acquisitions and loan funding, and $351.1 million in development funding. The company has also been disposing of assets simultaneously. From the beginning of the year through Oct. 27, 2025, Welltower completed pro rata property dispositions of $438.8 million and loan repayments of $329.5 million.

Welltower has a healthy balance sheet position and ample liquidity to meet near-term obligations and fund its development pipeline. As of Sept. 30, 2025, it had $11.9 billion of available liquidity, including $6.9 billion of cash and restricted cash and full capacity under its $5 billion line of credit. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 2.36X. Moreover, Welltower’s debt maturities are well-laddered, with a weighted average maturity of 5.7 years, enhancing its financial flexibility.

Key Risks for WELL

A competitive landscape in the senior housing market and tenant concentration in its triple-net portfolio are likely to weigh on Welltower. A substantial debt burden adds to its concerns.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Digital Realty Trust DLR and Cousins Properties (CUZ), 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 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 Cousins Properties’ 2025 FFO per share is pegged at $2.84, which implies a year-over-year increase of 5.6%.

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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