Why Physicians Realty Trust Stock Fell 26% in March
Shares of healthcare-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) Physicians Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC) fell 26% in March, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That was twice the decline of the broader market as measured by the S&P 500 Index and 6 percentage points worse than the 20% drop in the broader REIT sector, using Vanguard Real Estate ETF as a proxy.
The big story for the market and Physicians Realty in March was COVID-19. As the U.S. government, at various levels, sought to slow the progress of the rapidly spreading virus, people were asked to practice social distancing, and non-essential businesses were shut. The U.S. economy, broadly speaking, stopped in place.
That said, Physicians Realty owns medical office buildings (roughly 96% of its rents), which would generally be considered essential businesses. So the impact on the REIT's lessees should have been less material than for the broader economy, even if office visits ended up declining because of social distancing.
Source Fool.com
