Medical Properties Trust Dumps Steward Health. Is It Safe to Buy the Stock Again?

For years, Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) dealt with a great deal of uncertainty concerning one of its operators, Steward Health. The operator's financial difficulties even led to the real estate investment trust (REIT) cutting its dividend payment multiple times as rent collection issues weighed on its results. When Steward Health filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year, that was the exclamation mark on the REIT's troubles.Medical Properties Trust (MPT) now says it is moving away from Steward, and that it has effectively severed its relationship with the troubled operator. Share prices of the REIT rose on the news but is it really safe to own shares of this struggling company again?On Sept. 11, Medical Properties Trust (MPT) announced that it reached an agreement with Steward where it would bring about "the immediate transition of operations to quality replacement operators at 15 hospitals around the country." It believes that replacing Steward as the operator of those facilities will benefit MPT shareholders and put the REIT in a much better position to succeed.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool