Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) is among Jim Cramer’s latest stock calls as he covered Exxon, Lockheed, and others. Cramer highlighted the massive gains in the stock over the years, as he stated:
Regular viewers know that I am a huge fan of Ventas run by the indomitable Deb Cafaro. Since the beginning of 2000, her first full year as CEO, the stock’s up more than 2,100%, and including dividends, has given you a total return north of 9,200%. Over the past three years, Ventas has given you 112% total return. Who said you can’t make a lot of money in stocks? And it doesn’t all have to be in the hyperscalers. And Ventas is the number two player in the senior living space. The big dog, Welltower, another REIT, has given you a 202% total return over the past three years…
Ventas and Welltower, they traded at 30 times last year’s numbers and 46 times last year’s numbers, respectively… If we look at 2026 numbers using the consensus estimates for Ventas and Welltower, they’re trading at 26 times and 37 times funds from operations. Clearly, investors are willing to pay a higher multiple to own something in the senior living space… In the end, the senior housing market is on fire right now. Baby boomers are getting older yet there’s been very little new building as Deb Cafaro from Ventas always shares with us, which means that within a few years, we’re likely to see a senior housing shortage, hence the strength of Ventas and Welltower and the success of the Janus Living IPO.
But which one should you invest in? I can’t dismiss the fact that Welltower has been the big winner here in recent years. They’ve been aggressive in their acquisitions and have worked very, very well for them so far. But at this point, Welltower is the most expensive stock in the group with the lowest dividend yield. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to stick with Ventas… Ventas is the one that brought us a nearly 20% average annual gain for over two and a half decades. It’s also the cheapest of the bunch with the best yield, 2.5%. I love this great company that Deb Cafaro has built, and it’s as attractive today as it’s been at any point over the past couple of decades, maybe the most attractive.
A laptop and a computer monitor display a detailed stock market technical analysis chart. Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Pexels
Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages senior housing communities, outpatient medical buildings, and research centers.
While we acknowledge the risk and potential of VTR as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VTR and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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