Encore Capital Group (ECPG) Competitors

Nelnet (NYSE:NNI) and Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings, media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking and risk.

Is NNI or ECPG more profitable?

Nelnet has a net margin of 5.54% compared to Encore Capital Group's net margin of -13.91%. Encore Capital Group's return on equity of 12.70% beat Nelnet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nelnet	5.54%	3.78%	0.80%
Encore Capital Group	-13.91%	12.70%	2.61%

Do analysts prefer NNI or ECPG?

Nelnet currently has a consensus price target of $98.00, indicating a potential downside of 13.23%. Encore Capital Group has a consensus price target of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.76%. Given Encore Capital Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Encore Capital Group is more favorable than Nelnet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nelnet	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Encore Capital Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of NNI or ECPG?

33.5% of Nelnet shares are held by institutional investors. 50.1% of Nelnet shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Encore Capital Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, NNI or ECPG?

Nelnet has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Encore Capital Group has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, NNI or ECPG?

Nelnet has higher revenue and earnings than Encore Capital Group. Encore Capital Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nelnet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nelnet	$2.06B	1.98	$91.53M	$3.04	37.15
Encore Capital Group	$1.22B	0.96	-$206.49M	-$7.85	-6.33

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NNI or ECPG?

Encore Capital Group received 62 more outperform votes than Nelnet when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.50% of users gave Nelnet an outperform vote while only 62.15% of users gave Encore Capital Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Nelnet	Outperform Votes 268 66.50%	Underperform Votes 135 33.50%
Encore Capital Group	Outperform Votes 330 62.15%	Underperform Votes 201 37.85%

Does the media refer more to NNI or ECPG?

In the previous week, Encore Capital Group had 1 more articles in the media than Nelnet. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Encore Capital Group and 2 mentions for Nelnet. Encore Capital Group's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Nelnet's score of 0.31 indicating that Encore Capital Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Nelnet	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Encore Capital Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Encore Capital Group beats Nelnet on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.