STEWARD HEALTH CARE’S landlord expressed confidence on Wednesday that income from its Massachusetts properties would recover by the end of June, most likely with new tenants either replacing Steward or buying the hospitals outright.

Medical Properties Trust released a fourth-quarter earnings report that showed Steward has become a major financial drag on the company. Steward sold its hospitals to Medical Properties Trust in 2016 for $1.2 billion and then began renting them back. The arrangement took a financial turn last year and then fell off a cliff in the final three months of the year.

Officials reported a $664 million loss in the fourth quarter, prompted by $772 million in writeoffs and impairments related to Steward. Company officials said Steward paid only a quarter of the rent it owed during the quarter.

Edward Aldag, the chairman, CEO, and president of Medical Properties Trust, said Steward is currently compliant with the plan the companies negotiated for rent payments. He said Steward is currently making partial rental payments and added that Medical Properties Trust should be receiving 100 percent of the rental income it is owed by the end of June.

Company officials said reaching that goal will require finding new tenants for the hospitals—the officials called it “retenanting” — or selling the hospitals to new owners, as well as Steward selling off its managed care business and using the receipts to pay off its debts.

On the earnings call, one analyst from Bank of America asked how difficult it is to “retenant” a hospital.

Aldag said it varies. “In some states it’s really easy. It can be done overnight,” he said. “Some states take a little bit longer. The real answer to that question, for us, is that we’ve been extremely pleased with the amount of interest we’ve gotten in almost all of the facilities. In almost all of the facilities, we’ve got more than one party who is interested.”

Steven Hamner, executive vice president and chief financial officer, suggested the state of Massachusetts may play a role in the retenanting process. “One of the keys to our underwriting over the years has been, you know, we own hospitals that nobody wants to see closed,” he said. “And so, there’s a great deal of cooperation, particularly in some of the eastern states that typically have a heavier regulatory hand, for the regulators, for the state, for others to help facilitate these transactions.”

One potential stumbling block is $75 million Medical Properties Trust and other lenders are providing to Steward to keep its hospitals going until sales can be arranged. Aldag said Medical Properties Trust has pledged $37.5 million and other lenders have promised the same amount. He said Medical Properties Trust has set aside only $20 million so far, and the other lenders haven’t provided any money yet.

Hamner said Steward has met all the requirements for the $75 million and added that he expected the money to be forthcoming soon. He blamed the delays on incomplete documentation without explaining what that meant.

Medical Properties Trust officials did not mention any specific Steward hospital in Massachusetts in their remarks. Steward operates Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan in Brockton, Holy Family in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton in Taunton, Nashoba Valley in Ayer, Saint Anne’s in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton. The company also owns New England Sinai in Stoughton, which is closing this spring, and Norwood Hospital, which is closed.