Encore Capital Group (ECPG) Competitors

Plumas Bancorp (NASDAQ:PLBC) and Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has better earnings and valuation, PLBC or ECPG?

Plumas Bancorp has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Encore Capital Group. Encore Capital Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Plumas Bancorp, 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
Plumas Bancorp	$61.03M	4.46	$29.78M	$4.77	9.69
Encore Capital Group	$1.22B	0.94	-$206.49M	-$7.85	-6.16

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PLBC or ECPG?

41.7% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.0% of Plumas Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Encore Capital Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer PLBC or ECPG?

Plumas Bancorp presently has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential downside of 2.60%. Encore Capital Group has a consensus target price of $62.33, suggesting a potential upside of 28.81%. Given Encore Capital Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Encore Capital Group is more favorable than Plumas Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Plumas Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Encore Capital Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25

Is PLBC or ECPG more profitable?

Plumas Bancorp has a net margin of 31.02% compared to Encore Capital Group's net margin of -13.91%. Plumas Bancorp's return on equity of 17.31% beat Encore Capital Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Plumas Bancorp	31.02%	17.31%	1.73%
Encore Capital Group	-13.91%	12.70%	2.61%

Does the media refer more to PLBC or ECPG?

In the previous week, Encore Capital Group had 7 more articles in the media than Plumas Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Encore Capital Group and 4 mentions for Plumas Bancorp. Plumas Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 0.22 beat Encore Capital Group's score of 0.20 indicating that Plumas Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Plumas Bancorp	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 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)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PLBC or ECPG?

Encore Capital Group received 214 more outperform votes than Plumas Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.98% of users gave Plumas Bancorp an outperform vote while only 62.12% of users gave Encore Capital Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Plumas Bancorp	Outperform Votes 114 62.98%	Underperform Votes 67 37.02%
Encore Capital Group	Outperform Votes 328 62.12%	Underperform Votes 200 37.88%

Which has more volatility & risk, PLBC or ECPG?

Plumas Bancorp has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Encore Capital Group has a beta of 1.56, meaning that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

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