EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.15 EPS

EZCORP (NASDAQ:EZPW) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The credit services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.15, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $374.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $363.63 million. EZCORP had a return on equity of 12.00% and a net margin of 8.60%.

EZCORP Price Performance

NASDAQ EZPW opened at $21.96 on Thursday. EZCORP has a 1 year low of $12.06 and a 1 year high of $22.28. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.29. The company has a current ratio of 5.61, a quick ratio of 4.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 0.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EZCORP

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EZPW. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in EZCORP by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 73,064 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of EZCORP by 19.8% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 12,472 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of EZCORP by 23.6% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 19,375 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,705 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of EZCORP by 5.2% during the third quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 75,719 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 3,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of EZCORP by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 170,436 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,245,000 after purchasing an additional 3,789 shares during the last quarter. 99.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on EZPW shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of EZCORP from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. JMP Securities set a $23.00 target price on shares of EZCORP in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of EZCORP in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded EZCORP from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EZCORP has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.00.

About EZCORP

EZCORP, Inc is a specialty consumer finance company that provides pawn loans and retail merchandise programs primarily through its EZPAWN and Cash Converters brands. The company offers collateral-based loans secured principally by jewelry, electronics, musical instruments and other personal items, alongside check-cashing, money-transfer and bill-payment services. In addition to its pawn lending operations, EZCORP acquires previously pawned or consumer merchandise for resale through its “Sell-It-Now” platform and retail storefronts.

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, EZCORP operates in two principal geographic markets: the United States and Mexico.