Enova International (NYSE:ENVA) versus FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) Head-To-Head Survey

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) and Enova International (NYSE:ENVA) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

FirstCash has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Enova International has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for FirstCash and Enova International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstCash	0	1	4	0	2.80
Enova International	0	0	8	1	3.11

FirstCash currently has a consensus price target of $249.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.27%. Enova International has a consensus price target of $247.83, suggesting a potential upside of 9.30%. Given FirstCash’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe FirstCash is more favorable than Enova International.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares FirstCash and Enova International”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FirstCash	$4.12 billion	2.33	$330.38 million	$8.76	25.32
Enova International	$3.15 billion	1.79	$308.39 million	$13.49	16.81

FirstCash has higher revenue and earnings than Enova International. Enova International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FirstCash, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

80.3% of FirstCash shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.4% of Enova International shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of FirstCash shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Enova International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares FirstCash and Enova International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstCash	9.42%	19.65%	8.38%
Enova International	10.31%	26.66%	5.55%

Summary

Enova International beats FirstCash on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FirstCash

FirstCash Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, and rest of Latin America. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Retail POS Payment Solutions segments. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures on forfeited pawn loans and over-the-counter purchases of merchandise directly from customers. The company also provides retail POS payment solutions, which focuses on LTO products and facilitating other retail financing payment options across the network of traditional and e-commerce merchant partners. It serves cash and credit-constrained consumers. The company was formerly known as FirstCash, Inc and changed its name to FirstCash Holdings, Inc. in December 2021. FirstCash Holdings, Inc was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Enova International

Enova International, Inc., a technology and analytics company, provides online financial services in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company provides installment loans; line of credit accounts; CSO programs, including arranging loans with independent third-party lenders and assisting in the preparation of loan applications and loan documents; and bank programs, such as marketing services and loan servicing for near-prime unsecured consumer installment loan. It offers money transfer services. It markets its financing products under the CashNetUSA, NetCredit, OnDeck, Headway Capital, Simplic, and Pangea names. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.