Stocks · Financial Services · Financial - Credit Services
Encore Capital Group, Inc. ECPG
$95.92 +1.72% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $2.06B
Strong trendHigh risk
Next earnings report: Nov 4, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin widened to 37.7% from 17.2% a year earlier.
- Over the past year the stock returned +136.3%, ahead of the S&P 500 by 121.2 percentage points.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 6 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +35.5%).
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 14%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 37%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 24%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 26%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 17%
- Gross marginBottom 48%
- Operating marginTop 17%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 25%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 17%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 19%
- Interest coverTop 28%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 7%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 41%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 26%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 43%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 23%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 1%
- 6-month returnTop 8%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 1%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 42%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 8%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 20%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 12%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 18%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 18%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 17%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 19%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 33.9% | 29.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 62.9% | 64.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 17.2% | 37.7% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 6.5% | 6.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 29.4% | 33.9% | ↓ | Top 14% |
| Gross margin | 64.0% | 62.9% | ↑ | Bottom 48% |
| Operating margin | 37.7% | 17.2% | ↑ | Top 17% |
| Net margin | 15.9% | -6.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 6.8% | 6.5% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.1% | — | Top 17% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 8.0% | — | Bottom 24% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.50×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 2.7%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +14337.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 6.60×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 5.46%
- Shareholder yield
- 5.46%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -3.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.1%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 6
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +35.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $100.00
- Target vs current price
- +4.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 15
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 80%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | +5.2% | -3.0% | -2.1% | -2.6% | — |
| May 6, 2026 | +18.4% | -0.2% | -3.3% | -7.6% | +11.5% |
| Feb 25, 2026 | +53.2% | +2.0% | +23.9% | +22.3% | +39.0% |
| Nov 5, 2025 | +65.1% | +4.0% | +20.9% | +27.2% | +35.9% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +72.9% | +2.2% | +12.3% | +13.6% | +14.8% |
| May 7, 2025 | +55.6% | -0.2% | +22.2% | +16.0% | +9.0% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | -3.2% | -0.1% | -30.9% | -28.4% | -23.1% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | -14.9% | +4.8% | +2.8% | +4.4% | +3.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | $2.81 | $2.67 | +5.2% | $491.9M |
| May 6, 2026 | $3.86 | $3.26 | +18.4% | $475.4M |
| Feb 25, 2026 | $3.37 | $2.20 | +53.2% | $473.6M |
| Nov 5, 2025 | $3.17 | $1.92 | +65.1% | $460.4M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $2.49 | $1.44 | +72.9% | $442.1M |
| May 7, 2025 | $1.93 | $1.24 | +55.6% | $392.8M |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $1.50 | $1.55 | -3.2% | $265.6M |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $1.26 | $1.48 | -14.9% | $367.1M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 7.3× | 5.5× | 82th | Top 7% |
| P/E (forward) | 7.1× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 9.5× | — | — | Top 26% |
| EV / Sales | 3.55× | — | — | Bottom 43% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 6.32% | — | — | Bottom 41% |
| Earnings yield | 13.77% | — | — | Top 7% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 4.0× – 42.5× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 249
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +6.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +22.0%
- RSI (14)
- 46.8
- Relative volume
- 0.54×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 37.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 69th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.84
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.34
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -7.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -49.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2022 | Apr 8, 2025 | -62.5% | 675 days | 226 days (Mar 4, 2026) |
| Oct 16, 2020 | Jan 29, 2021 | -27.0% | 71 days | 27 days (Mar 10, 2021) |
| Feb 18, 2022 | Jun 16, 2022 | -22.4% | 81 days | 29 days (Jul 29, 2022) |
| Aug 14, 2026 | Sep 1, 2026 | -10.3% | 12 days | Not yet recovered |
| Mar 15, 2021 | Apr 15, 2021 | -10.3% | 22 days | 15 days (May 6, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.06B
- P/E (TTM)
- 7.3
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $13.21
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.90B
- 52-week range
- $39.95 – $104.98
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.61B | $1.40B | $1.22B | $1.32B | $1.76B |
| Gross profit | $928.0M | $769.7M | $571.2M | $603.6M | $1.22B |
| Operating income | $633.3M | $462.2M | $16.5M | $157.3M | $623.6M |
| Net income | $350.8M | $194.6M | -$206.5M | -$139.2M | $256.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $11.26 | $7.46 | -$8.72 | -$5.83 | $10.91 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $367.1M | $265.6M | $392.8M | $442.1M | $460.4M | $473.6M | $472.9M | $491.9M |
| Net income | $30.6M | -$225.3M | $46.8M | $58.7M | $74.7M | $76.7M | $86.2M | $64.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.26 | -$9.42 | $1.93 | $2.49 | $3.17 | $3.37 | $3.86 | $2.81 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $303.1M | $210.7M | $153.0M | $156.2M | $153.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$33.4M | -$76.6M | -$51.7M | -$29.2M | -$26.3M |
| Free cash flow | $269.7M | $134.1M | $101.3M | $126.9M | $126.9M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$390.6M | -$87.0M | $0 | $0 | -$90.4M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $182.9M
- Total assets
- $5.57B
- Total liabilities
- $4.49B
- Total debt
- $4.87B
- Net debt
- $4.69B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.08B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 5, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,281,330
- Days to cover
- 3.23
- Change vs previous report
- +9.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.