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ECPG vs. CACC: Which Stock Should Value Investors Buy Now?

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Investors looking for stocks in the Financial - Consumer Loans sector might want to consider either Encore Capital Group (ECPG - Free Report) or Credit Acceptance (CACC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Encore Capital Group has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Credit Acceptance has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that ECPG has an improving earnings outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

ECPG currently has a forward P/E ratio of 6.34, while CACC has a forward P/E of 12.65. We also note that ECPG has a PEG ratio of 0.53. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. CACC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.15.

Another notable valuation metric for ECPG is its P/B ratio of 1.25. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, CACC has a P/B of 3.49.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to ECPG's Value grade of A and CACC's Value grade of C.

ECPG is currently sporting an improving earnings outlook, which makes it stick out in our Zacks Rank model. And, based on the above valuation metrics, we feel that ECPG is likely the superior value option right now.


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Encore Capital Group Inc (ECPG) - free report >>

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