Healthpeak Properties Gains 22.7% Year to Date: Will the Trend Last?

Shares of Healthpeak Properties DOC have gained 22.7% over the year-to-date period, outperforming the industry's upside of 12.7%.

This healthcare real estate, carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), is strategically positioning toward lab, outpatient medical and life plan assets in high-barrier markets, driven by strong leasing momentum, rising occupancy and growth in its senior housing platform, Janus Living. Management is using dispositions and structured transactions to fund focused growth while enhancing liquidity and maintaining investment flexibility across cycles.

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Factors Behind DOC Stock Price Surge: Will the Trend Last?

Healthpeak’s continued focus on the lab segment remains a strategic fit, as drug discovery and development spending supports long-term demand for high-quality lab real estate in its core clusters of San Diego, San Francisco and Boston. During the first quarter of 2026, Healthpeak executed 141,000 square feet of lab leases, with 92% tied to new leasing and had roughly 355,000 square feet under LOI. Total lab occupancy ended the first quarter of 2026 at 77.7%, up from the 77% at year-end 2025. Management expects year-end 2026 lab occupancy to be higher than the 2025 level.

The outpatient medical segment continues to show steady fundamentals that support recurring cash flow. In the first quarter of 2026, Healthpeak executed nearly 1.1 million square feet of outpatient leases, achieved 5.4% cash re-leasing spreads on renewals and ended the quarter at 91% total occupancy, with 79% tenant retention. Subsequent to quarter-end and through early May, the company executed additional outpatient leasing activity and reported a larger pipeline under letter of intent (LOI), which should help sustain occupancy and rent growth over time.

Healthpeak’s exposure to life plan communities remains tied to demand for senior housing services, and the Janus Living structure adds a clearer vehicle for growth. In the first quarter of 2026, senior housing same-store cash (adjusted) net operating income (NOI) grew 13.8% year over year, reflecting stronger operating performance in the life plan portfolio. Janus Living reported year-over-year revenue growth of 35% and adjusted EBITDA expansion of 42% for the quarter.

Healthpeak continues to reposition its portfolio toward lab, outpatient medical and life plan assets in high barrier-to-entry markets, using dispositions and structured transactions to fund growth. In the first quarter of 2026, it generated $267 million of proceeds from recapitalizations, dispositions and loan repayments, including a joint venture recapitalization. These actions support a longer-term approach to driving per-share earnings growth while keeping investment activity flexible across cycles.

Healthpeak has been taking steps to bolster its near-term liquidity. The company ended the first quarter of 2026 with net debt-to-EBITDA of 5.4x. Cash and cash equivalents rose to $1.17 billion from $467.5 million in the last quarter, reflecting the Janus Living IPO proceeds. As of May 4, 2026, it maintained long-term credit ratings of Baa1 from Moody’s and BBB+ from S&P Global. The company also increased financial flexibility with a new $400 million unsecured delayed-draw term loan.

Key Risks for DOC

Competition from other industry players in the healthcare services sector is a key concern for Healthpeak. Risks associated with rising construction costs and substantial debt burden add to its woes.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are American Tower AMT and Lamar Advertising LAMR, each carrying a Zacks Rank of #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 AMT’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $10.95, which indicates year-over-year growth of 1.77%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LAMR’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $8.63, which suggests an increase of 4.48% from the year-ago period.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents 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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