What's in the Cards for Healthpeak Properties This Earnings Season?

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. DOC is slated to report its first-quarter 2025 results on April 24, after market close. Its quarterly results are expected to reflect year-over-year growth in revenues and funds from operations (FFO) per share.

In the last reported quarter, this healthcare real estate investment trust (REIT) posted an FFO as adjusted per share of 46 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Results reflected better-than-anticipated revenues. Moreover, growth in total merger-combined same-store cash (adjusted) net operating income was witnessed across the portfolio.

In the preceding four quarters, Healthpeak’s FFO, as adjusted per share, surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate on all occasions, with the average beat being 2.26%. The graph below depicts this surprise history:

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

Healthpeak Properties, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Healthpeak Properties, Inc. Quote

Factors at Play for Healthpeak

The increasing life expectancy of the U.S. population and biopharma drug development growth opportunities have promoted lab real estate market fundamentals. Healthpeak’s focus on the lab segment is a strategic fit and is expected to have been benefitted by this tailwind, aiding revenue growth in the first quarter.

Moreover, the senior citizen population is on the rise, and the healthcare expenditure of this age cohort is usually on the higher end compared with the general population. Healthpeak’s continuing care retirement community portfolio, which refers to its retirement communities that include independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing units, is anticipated to have benefited from this positive expenditure trend, supporting the segment’s quarterly performance.

For the first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for DOC’s rental and related revenues currently stands at $527.5 million, implying growth of 14.2% from the prior-year period’s reported figure.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter total revenues is pegged at $694.7 million, indicating a rise of 14.5% from the year-ago reported number.

However, high interest expenses during the first quarter are likely to have been a spoilsport for Healthpeak.

Before the first-quarter earnings release, the company’s activities were inadequate to gain analysts’ confidence. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarterly FFO per share has remained unchanged at 46 cents over the past three months. The figure suggests a 2.22% increase from the year-ago quarter’s tally.

What Our Quantitative Model Predicts for Healthpeak

Our proven model predicts a likely surprise in terms of FFO per share for DOC this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an FFO beat, which is the case here.

Healthpeak currently has an Earnings ESP of +0.35% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are two stocks from the healthcare REIT industry — Welltower WELL and Ventas VTR — that you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to report a surprise this quarter.

Welltower is slated to report quarterly numbers on April 28. WELL has an Earnings ESP of +1.69% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Ventas is slated to report quarterly numbers on April 30. VTR has an Earnings ESP of +0.18% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

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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