Healthpeak Properties, Inc. DOC is well-positioned to benefit from robust demand for lab assets and an expected rise in senior citizens’ healthcare spending. Accretive investments and a solid balance sheet bode well.
Last month, DOC closed on a new $400 million unsecured delayed-draw term loan facility, enhancing its liquidity and financial flexibility.
In the same month, the company monetized senior housing assets through Janus Living, Inc.’s IPO. The net receipts from IPO proceeds amounted to $878 million. The IPO proceeds will be used by Healthpeak for pending acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
Factors That Make Healthpeak Properties a Solid Pick
Robust Demand for Lab Assets: The increasing life expectancy of the U.S. population and biopharma drug development growth opportunities have promoted lab real estate market fundamentals and led to a rise in demand for such assets.
The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is likely to increase the probability of success in drug research and lower the timeline for development, indicating a rise in the allocation of healthcare spending by healthcare research institutes in the upcoming years.
On the back of these industry background, the company is gaining scale and is well-poised to meet the growing demand from lab tenants. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Healthpeak executed new and renewal lab lease agreements totaling 261,000 and 72,000 square feet, respectively.
Favorable CCRC Portfolio: With the likelihood of the senior citizen population rising in the years ahead, Healthpeak’s CCRC portfolio, which refers to its retirement communities that include independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing units, is positioned to benefit from the high healthcare expenditures incurred by this age cohort. In the fourth quarter of 2025, occupancy in its life plan portfolio was 87.4%.
Portfolio-Repositioning Efforts: Healthpeak is making portfolio-repositioning efforts to focus on lab, outpatient medical and CCRC assets. As part of such efforts, the company recycled capital through non-core dispositions of SHOP and triple-net leased assets to acquire and fund the development of lab and outpatient medical assets in high-barrier-to-entry markets.
In January 2026, Healthpeak exercised a contractual purchase option with the ground lessor to acquire a leasehold interest in a four-building, 239,000-square-foot lab campus in Salt Lake City, UT, for approximately $68.2 million. During the fourth quarter of 2025, Healthpeak closed on outpatient medical dispositions totaling about $325 million, covering roughly 834,000 square feet of fully stabilized assets.
Balance Sheet Strength: The company maintains a healthy balance sheet position. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had total liquidity of around $2.39 billion and a net debt-to-adjusted EBITDAre of 5.2X. It also enjoys long-term credit ratings of Baa1 (Stable) from Moody’s and BBB+ (Stable) from S&P Global as of Dec. 31, 2025, rendering it easy access to the debt market at favorable costs. With a sound liquidity position, Healthpeak is well-placed to bank on growth opportunities.
However, analysts seem bearish on this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2026 AFFO per share being lowered 5.4% over the past two months to $1.76. Over the past month, shares of DOC have declined 2.6% against the industry's growth of 1.3%.
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Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Crown Castle Inc. CCI and Prologis PLD, 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 CCI’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $4.43, which indicates year-over-year growth of 1.6%.
The consensus estimate for PLD’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $6.14, which calls for an increase of 5.7% 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).