Encore Capital Group (ECPG) & Its Competitors Critical Survey

Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) is one of 121 publicly-traded companies in the “Consumer Finance” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Encore Capital Group to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Encore Capital Group and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Encore Capital Group	0	1	5	0	2.83
Encore Capital Group Competitors	928	3486	5405	281	2.50

Encore Capital Group currently has a consensus price target of $103.25, indicating a potential downside of 0.70%. As a group, “Consumer Finance” companies have a potential upside of 21.57%. Given Encore Capital Group’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Encore Capital Group has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility and Risk

Encore Capital Group has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Encore Capital Group’s rivals have a beta of 1.25, meaning that their average share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Encore Capital Group and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Encore Capital Group	$1.77 billion	$256.83 million	7.87
Encore Capital Group Competitors	$3.57 billion	$381.70 million	6.10

Encore Capital Group’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Encore Capital Group. Encore Capital Group is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Encore Capital Group and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Encore Capital Group	15.86%	29.83%	5.58%
Encore Capital Group Competitors	10.14%	-15.19%	2.16%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

46.4% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Encore Capital Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.8% of shares of all “Consumer Finance” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Encore Capital Group beats its rivals on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc., a specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions and other related services for consumers across financial assets worldwide. The company purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts to face value, as well as manages them by working with individuals as they repay their obligations and works toward financial recovery. It is also involved in the provision of early stage collection, business process outsourcing, and contingent collection services. In addition, the company engages in debt servicing and other portfolio management services to credit originator for non-performing loans. Further, it offers credit management services. Encore Capital Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.