# How Welltower (WELL) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/well
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on WELL alone. It places WELL (Welltower Inc.) against 16 popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where WELL stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: WELL's full trading record, from October 1986 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** WELL has gone against the market, falling 2.4% over the past 3 months while the S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Not every peer went the same way. Over the past 3 months, LTC (LTC Properties) rose 3.7% and DOC (Healthpeak Properties) fell 14.5%.
- **Stock or market?:** WELL fell 2.4% over the past 3 months, 4.0 points ahead of the healthcare reits ETF VNQ (Vanguard Real Estate ETF), which fell 6.4%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its healthcare reit peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: LTC (LTC Properties) rose 3.7%, while DOC (Healthpeak Properties) fell 14.5%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** Over the past year, WELL rose 36.0% against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. The same gap shows up over 3 years (201% against 89.3%). The last two calendar years both went the same way: WELL rose 49.9% in 2025, against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100.
- **Long term:** WELL turned $10,000 into $47,900 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. WELL's 10-year return of 379% puts it ahead of 80% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 321%.
- **In a crash:** Across seven sell-offs, WELL has typically fallen 1.2 times as far as the S&P 500. The Covid crash took 61.9% off WELL, against 33.7% for the S&P 500. That was more than DOC (Healthpeak Properties, 46.5%) but less than VTR (Ventas, 73.1%).
- **Diversification:** WELL is some diversification, but not a hedge: a correlation of 0.48 with the S&P 500 over 5 years and 0.48 with the total US market, more closely than 69% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Over 10 years WELL kept more of the market's gains than of its losses: 87% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 72% of its losses in falling ones, with a beta of 0.90.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** NHC (National HealthCare) was ahead of WELL in most short and long periods.
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** LLY (Eli Lilly and Company, pharmaceuticals) earned more for the risk it took than WELL over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 34.5%, against 63.3% for WELL.
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WELL with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in WELL have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in WELL over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of WELL over the same span and WELL's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in WELL at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $467,035 by September 2026, more than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Five of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of WELL, and AAPL finished highest, at $20,534,853.

## WELL at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- WELL's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 63.3%, from September 2019 to March 2020. It took 16 months from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, WELL's best was 2001, when it returned 66.3%, and its worst was 1999, when it lost 35.0%. It lost money in six of those years.
- WELL is 5.2% below its all-time high.

- Type: Stock, Real Estate (REIT - Healthcare Facilities)
- Trading since: October 17, 1986
- Market value: $172B
- Volatility (5 years): 23.8%; Sharpe ratio: 1.09
- Worst decline ever: −63.3%, from September 4, 2019 to March 18, 2020; back at its high by July 9, 2021

| Period | WELL total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | +2.3% |
| 3 months | −2.4% |
| 6 months | +14.5% |
| year to date | +28.7% |
| 1 year | +36.0% |
| 3 years | +201% |
| 5 years | +217% |
| 10 years | +379% |

## WELL against the whole market

Where WELL ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does WELL rank among all stocks?

This section ranks WELL on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), WELL ranks in the top 2% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | WELL | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +36.0% | 824 of 3,287 (top 26%) |
| 3-year return | +201% | 404 of 3,017 (top 14%) |
| 5-year return | +217% | 281 of 2,893 (top 10%) |
| 10-year return | +379% | 444 of 2,202 (top 21%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 23.8% | 254 of 2,893 (top 9%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.09 | 52 of 2,893 (top 2%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −63.3% | 1,012 of 2,187 (top 47%) |

### What has beaten WELL on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WELL over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than WELL?

The table below lists investments that beat WELL over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among WELL's popular alternatives, NHC was ahead of WELL in most short and long periods.
- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, LLY (pharmaceuticals) earned more for the risk it took than WELL over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 34.5%, against 63.3% for WELL.
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than WELL with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## WELL against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against WELL, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do WELL's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 15 popular alternatives earned more than WELL over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- 11 of the 15 popular alternatives earned less than WELL over the past 5 years while swinging more, the weaker corner of the map.
- Over the past 5 years, WELL returned 26.0% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (23.8% against 17.1%).

### Has WELL consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares WELL with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- NHC outperformed WELL in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Only one of the 16 popular alternatives, NHC, outperformed WELL in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes.
- NHC earned more for the risk it took than WELL (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in its worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of WELL | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WELL: Welltower Inc. (this page) | +36.0% | +201% | +217% | +379% |  |  | 1.09 |
| NHC: National HealthCare Corporation | +104% | +296% | +301% | +394% | 5/5 short-term, 3/3 long-term | all-weather | 1.12 |
| [HCA](https://easycompare.io/research/hca): HCA Healthcare, Inc. | +8.3% | +97.6% | +93.6% | +513% | 2/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.59 |
| DHC: Diversified Healthcare Trust | +86.5% | +349% | +121% | −48.0% | 2/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.56 |
| ENSG: The Ensign Group, Inc. | −4.9% | +84.1% | +147% | +896% | 1/5 short-term, 1/3 long-term |  | 0.81 |
| SBRA: Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. | +11.9% | +70.8% | +86.7% | +75.9% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.60 |
| LTC: LTC Properties, Inc. | +28.1% | +64.3% | +71.1% | +51.7% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.62 |
| AHR: American Healthcare REIT, Inc. | +27.9% | — | — | — | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | — |
| CTRE: CareTrust REIT, Inc. | +7.8% | +91.7% | +117% | +310% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.76 |
| OHI: Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. | +17.7% | +69.7% | +114% | +202% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.75 |
| [VTR](https://easycompare.io/research/vtr): Ventas, Inc. | +23.9% | +126% | +79.3% | +91.0% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.59 |
| NHI: National Health Investors, Inc. | −8.4% | +57.7% | +54.0% | +51.5% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.48 |
| [O](https://easycompare.io/research/o): Realty Income Corporation | −2.0% | +34.8% | +5.7% | +50.1% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.15 |
| HR: Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated | −1.0% | +49.7% | −10.6% | +27.2% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.06 |
| DOC: Healthpeak Properties, Inc. | +7.0% | +39.4% | −21.6% | +12.4% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | -0.05 |
| UHT: Universal Health Realty Income Trust | +11.9% | +25.3% | −9.9% | +5.0% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.04 |
| BKD: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. | +14.8% | +166% | +50.1% | −36.8% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.42 |

### How did WELL do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where WELL ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- WELL finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 16 of its 29 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last three.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, WELL finished in the top quarter in 11 of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in three. In 2025, it ranked 5 of 17.
- Among its popular alternatives, HCA came out ahead of WELL most often, in ten of the 14 years both traded.

| Year | WELL | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +49.9% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +43.1% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +41.8% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −21.2% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +37.0% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −17.2% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +23.1% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | +15.3% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +0.2% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | +3.4% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How WELL has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were WELL's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all four of WELL's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: WELL fell 40.5% from September 1998 to April 2000, while the S&P 500 rose 42.6%.
- The longest climb back to a previous high took 18 months, after WELL fell 47.5% from August 2008 to March 2009.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −63.3% | September 4, 2019 | March 18, 2020 | July 9, 2021 | −17.6% | Covid crash |
| −47.5% | August 11, 2008 | March 6, 2009 | September 2, 2010 | −46.5% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −40.8% | March 29, 2022 | October 10, 2022 | February 14, 2024 | −21.3% | 2022 bear market |
| −40.5% | September 23, 1998 | April 4, 2000 | March 13, 2001 | +42.6% | dot-com bust |
| −36.4% | April 26, 1988 | December 21, 1988 | January 9, 1990 | — |  |

### How did WELL do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far WELL, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- Among its popular alternatives, CTRE held up best, falling less than WELL in four of the six crashes they both traded through.
- WELL fell further than the S&P 500 in five of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the Covid crash, when WELL fell 61.9% and the S&P 500 fell 33.7%.

| Crash | Dates | WELL fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −18.1% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −47.5% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | −0.5% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −23.3% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −22.3% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −6.5% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −11.1% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −61.9% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −40.8% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −9.2% | −3.4% |

### How closely does WELL move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, WELL captured 87% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 72% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 0.90. That is a defensive profile: it gave up some of the market's upside in exchange for smaller losses.
- Only ENSG and NHC had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than WELL's 1.22, out of 15 popular alternatives with the same record.
- NHC took just 45% of the S&P 500's losses, against 72% for WELL, while still keeping 73% of its gains.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WELL: Welltower Inc. (this page) | 87.0% | 72.0% | 0.90 |
| NHC: National HealthCare Corporation | 73.0% | 45.0% | 0.44 |
| [HCA](https://easycompare.io/research/hca): HCA Healthcare, Inc. | 135% | 140% | 1.37 |
| DHC: Diversified Healthcare Trust | 94.0% | 223% | 1.84 |
| ENSG: The Ensign Group, Inc. | 105% | 55.0% | 0.83 |
| SBRA: Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. | 76.0% | 111% | 1.05 |
| LTC: LTC Properties, Inc. | 48.0% | 68.0% | 0.75 |
| CTRE: CareTrust REIT, Inc. | 93.0% | 90.0% | 0.91 |
| OHI: Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. | 70.0% | 67.0% | 0.77 |
| [VTR](https://easycompare.io/research/vtr): Ventas, Inc. | 70.0% | 98.0% | 0.96 |
| NHI: National Health Investors, Inc. | 60.0% | 92.0% | 0.71 |
| [O](https://easycompare.io/research/o): Realty Income Corporation | 57.0% | 93.0% | 0.73 |
| HR: Healthcare Realty Trust Incorporated | 59.0% | 104% | 0.80 |
| DOC: Healthpeak Properties, Inc. | 61.0% | 110% | 0.88 |
| UHT: Universal Health Realty Income Trust | 63.0% | 123% | 0.80 |
| BKD: Brookdale Senior Living Inc. | 40.0% | 111% | 1.15 |

### What diversifies WELL?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in WELL into DXJ would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 16% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+25.8% for WELL alone, +26.5% for the mix).
- CAH made money in five of the six calendar years in which WELL lost money.
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, MLPX and SMH have moved largely independently of WELL over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.49 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.

| Investment | Correlation with WELL | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in WELL's 6 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.36 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 4 of 6 |
| MLPX: Global X - MLP & Energy Infrastructure ETF | 0.49 | +135% | 19.7% | 0.97 | 1 of 6 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.31 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 3 of 6 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.28 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 2 of 6 |
| DIVO: Amplify CWP Enhanced Dividend Income ETF | 0.48 | +69.0% | 11.9% | 0.95 | 1 of 6 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.32 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 1 of 6 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.20 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 4 of 6 |
| VLUE: iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | 0.39 | +109% | 18.4% | 0.90 | 0 of 6 |

## Common questions

### What was WELL's worst drawdown?

WELL's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 63.3%, from September 2019 to March 2020. It took 16 months from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were WELL's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, WELL's best year was 2001, when it returned 66.3%. Its worst was 1999, with a return of -35.0%.

### Is there a better investment than WELL?

Among WELL's popular alternatives, NHC was ahead of WELL in most short and long periods. Looking beyond its popular alternatives, LLY (pharmaceuticals) earned more for the risk it took than WELL over the past 5 years, and its worst fall in 10 years was 34.5%, against 63.3% for WELL.

### Is WELL more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. WELL's volatility over the past 5 years was 23.8%, 1.4 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, WELL's return lands within 23.8% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is WELL's Sharpe ratio?

WELL's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.09, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so WELL earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is WELL with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, WELL's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.48 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against WELL instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a WELL holding.

### What are the best alternatives to WELL?

Of the 16 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed WELL in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: NHC.

### Did WELL outperform the S&P 500?

WELL finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 16 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +49.9%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did WELL do in stock market crashes?

WELL fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in four of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in five. The clearest case was the Covid crash, when WELL fell 61.9% and the S&P 500 fell 33.7%.

### What diversifies WELL?

These had a low correlation with WELL over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.36), MLPX (correlation 0.49) and SMH (correlation 0.31); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.27), CLS (correlation 0.18) and FIX (correlation 0.27). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/well
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against WELL live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=WELL&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research