When you're investing in a high-yield stock like Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) that's intended as a long-term holding for the purposes of generating dividends, it pays to know about the little details that might affect your income stream in the future. 

On that note, there are three things in particular that smart investors are likely to appreciate about Medical Properties Trust, thereby shaping their decisions to invest or look elsewhere. While two of the three are focused on risks, the third is a benefit that may surprise you. So let's dive in.

The first thing that smart investors know about Medical Properties Trust and, indeed, most real estate investment trusts (REITs), is that it shouldn't be expected to outperform the market with any consistency. The reason for this is that its business model works by investing large amounts of capital into new properties (or loans backed by properties), and then leasing out those properties to long-duration tenants like hospitals and clinics for an interest rate in the high single-digit percentage point range.

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Source Fool.com