As you may have heard, Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) buys and develops hospital space, then leases it out to hospital operators, collecting a tidy rent check for years thereafter -- or selling it at a profit to generate cash for more acquisitions. The real estate investment trust (REIT) is one of the healthcare sector's largest, so it's no surprise that investors are curious about how much money an investment from a decade ago might have made.

Let's do a few quick calculations to see how this business performed before examining whether it can be a good investment moving forward.

An investment in Medical Properties Trust 10 years ago would have grown its total return by 95.6%, losing out to a market-tracking index fund like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which rose by 225.2% in the same period. So, if you bought $5,000 worth of the REIT's shares, you'd be richer by roughly $9,783 when reinvesting the dividends it paid out, whereas your shares themselves would be worth a grand total of (drumroll please) $5,109 if you opted not to reinvest the dividends. The same $5,000 investment in the index ETF would be worth around $13,520 even if you spent 100% of its dividends as soon as they hit your account, making it a significantly better choice overall.

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Source Fool.com