Health Care REIT Inc. ( HCN ) acquired Gracewell assets in August with Sunrise Senior Living. The company also unveiled a plan to acquire HealthLease Properties REIT through a transaction valued at around $950 million in cash, including debt.

Further, Health Care REIT announced its projected acquisition pipeline, worth around $1.7 billion of properties, for the second half of 2014. We believe that such strategic portfolio acquisitions would serve as growth drivers for the company.

Moreover, in August, Health Care REIT came out with second-quarter normalized funds from operations (FFO) of $1.06 per share, a nickel ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate and up 13 cents year over year. Results were primarily driven by growth in same-store net operating income (NOI) and notable portfolio investments in premium assets.

The company also increased its full year 2014 normalized FFO per share guidance range to $4.05-$4.15 from $4.03-$4.13 guided earlier, denoting a 6%-9% increase from 2013.

Going forward, the company's strategic portfolio-restructuring activities and enhanced financial flexibility bode well for its growth. In addition, a rise in senior citizen spending for healthcare reasons promises strong future prospects. Also, the guidance increase serves to boost shareholders' confidence.

The Gracewell Healthcare properties acquisition, in particular, would help the company to capitalize on the attractive demographics of Greater London and Southern England markets, apart from enhancing its private-pay seniors housing portfolio base. On the other hand, the HealthLease acquisition deal would bring on board 53 high-quality seniors housing, post-acute care and long-term care communities, concentrated across North Carolina, IN, and Alberta, Canada.

However, an anticipated rise in interest rate in the long term and intense competition remain the pressing concerns.

Echoing similar sentiments, over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2014 remained unchanged at $4.13, while that for 2015 moved up a 2 cents to $4.35 per share. Health Care REIT currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

To gain a deeper insight into Health Care REIT, you can refer to our updated research report issued on Oct 9, 2014.

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Can Health Care REIT Ride Growth Curve on Acquisitions? - Analyst Blog