Critical Comparison: Credit Saison (OTCMKTS:CSASF) vs. PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA)

PRA Group (NASDAQ:PRAA) and Credit Saison (OTCMKTS:CSASF) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for PRA Group and Credit Saison, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PRA Group	1	2	1	1	2.40
Credit Saison	0	0	0	0	0.00

PRA Group currently has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.79%. Given PRA Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe PRA Group is more favorable than Credit Saison.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.2% of PRA Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.3% of Credit Saison shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of PRA Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PRA Group and Credit Saison”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PRA Group	$1.34 billion	0.55	-$305.14 million	($6.73)	-2.91
Credit Saison	N/A	N/A	N/A	C$144.02	0.16

Credit Saison has lower revenue, but higher earnings than PRA Group. PRA Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Credit Saison, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares PRA Group and Credit Saison’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PRA Group	-19.91%	15.56%	3.18%
Credit Saison	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

PRA Group beats Credit Saison on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PRA Group

PRA Group, Inc., a financial and business services company, engages in the purchase, collection, and management of portfolios of nonperforming loans worldwide. It is involved in the purchase of accounts that are primarily the unpaid obligations of individuals owed to credit originators, which include banks and other types of consumer, retail, and auto finance companies. The company also acquires nonperforming loans, including Visa and MasterCard credit card accounts, private label and other credit card accounts, personal loans, automobile loans, and small business loans from banks, credit unions, consumer finance companies, retailers, utilities, automobile finance companies, and other credit originators. In addition, it provides fee-based services on class action claims recoveries. The company was formerly known as Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. and changed its name to PRA Group, Inc. in October 2014. PRA Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.

About Credit Saison

Credit Saison Co., Ltd. provides leasing, finance, real estate, entertainment, and payment services in Japan and internationally. The company offers credit cards, prepaid and debit cards, smartphone-based services, and information processing services; internet advertisement agency; marketing consulting; temporary staffing; and contracting services. It also engages in the credit guarantee and finance related businesses; real estate business; real estate leasing activities; and digital marketing and asset management services, as well as develops and manages amusement. Further, it involved in the import and sell of lifestyle goods; cleaning, security, and property maintenance services; debt collection; personal loan; life/non-life insurance agency; online ticket system and payment services; digital lending; and sells information security and office disaster prevention related services, etc. The company was formerly known as Seibu Credit Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Credit Saison Co., Ltd. in October 1989. Credit Saison Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 1951 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.