EZCORP (EZPW) Competitors

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

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, ECPG or EZPW?

EZCORP has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Encore Capital Group. Encore Capital Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than EZCORP, 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
Encore Capital Group	$1.33B	0.87	-$206.49M	-$7.85	-6.22
EZCORP	$1.16B	0.58	$83.10M	$1.11	11.08

Which has more risk and volatility, ECPG or EZPW?

Encore Capital Group has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, EZCORP has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ECPG or EZPW?

Encore Capital Group received 5 more outperform votes than EZCORP when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.15% of users gave Encore Capital Group an outperform vote while only 56.33% of users gave EZCORP an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Encore Capital Group	Outperform Votes 330 62.15%	Underperform Votes 201 37.85%
EZCORP	Outperform Votes 325 56.33%	Underperform Votes 252 43.67%

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

99.8% of EZCORP shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of Encore Capital Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of EZCORP shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer ECPG or EZPW?

Encore Capital Group currently has a consensus price target of $65.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.06%. EZCORP has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.08%. Given Encore Capital Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Encore Capital Group is more favorable than EZCORP.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Encore Capital Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.25
EZCORP	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media prefer ECPG or EZPW?

In the previous week, EZCORP had 4 more articles in the media than Encore Capital Group. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for EZCORP and 1 mentions for Encore Capital Group. EZCORP's average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Encore Capital Group's score of 0.00 indicating that EZCORP is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

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

Is ECPG or EZPW more profitable?

EZCORP has a net margin of 7.15% compared to Encore Capital Group's net margin of -13.91%. Encore Capital Group's return on equity of 12.70% beat EZCORP's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Encore Capital Group	-13.91%	12.70%	2.61%
EZCORP	7.15%	10.65%	5.65%

Summary

Encore Capital Group beats EZCORP on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.