EPR's business has recovered nicely from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dvidends helped fuel returns.

EPR still trades for a relatively low valuation, compared to its REIT peers.

10 stocks we like better than EPR Properties ›

Five years ago, the country was just a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses remained closed to in-person customers, and those that were open generally had restrictive social-distancing and capacity policies.

This created a massive problem for real estate investment trust (REIT) EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR), which owns a portfolio of experiential properties, such as waterparks, eat and play businesses (TopGolf is a major tenant), ski attractions, and movie theaters. When the pandemic hit, EPR's tenants were all initially closed, and many weren't paying rent.

As you might have expected, EPR's stock tanked in 2020. At one point, it has fallen more than 80% from its prior high.

However, there was a major inflection point in late 2020 when vaccines were rolling out and investors saw light at the end of the tunnel. If you had invested $1,000 in EPR Properties five years ago (early August 2020), your investment would have grown to nearly $2,600 today, thanks to a combination of stock-price gains and dividends, which EPR resumed paying in mid-2021.

In fact, EPR has outperformed the S&P 500 benchmark index by more than 50 percentage points over the past five years, and its performance translates to an annualized return of about 21%.

Despite its excellent performance, EPR trades for a relatively cheap valuation of about 10.8 times its full-year guidance for funds from operations (FFO -- the real estate equivalent of earnings). There's still some uncertainty surrounding the future of the movie theater business, but the main reason is the persistent high-interest-rate environment.

If rates fall, it could create a more favorable growth environment for EPR to pursue its massive market opportunity. The stock could still be a bargain, despite its excellent performance.

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Matt Frankel has positions in EPR Properties. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends EPR Properties. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

If You'd Invested $1,000 in EPR Properties (EPR) 5 Years Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Today was originally published by The Motley Fool