Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) & CarePayment Technologies (OTCMKTS:CPYT) Critical Review

CarePayment Technologies (OTCMKTS:CPYT) and Encore Capital Group (NASDAQ:ECPG) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CarePayment Technologies and Encore Capital Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CarePayment Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Encore Capital Group	$1.27 billion	0.87	-$206.49 million	($8.58)	-5.43

CarePayment Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Encore Capital Group.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for CarePayment Technologies and Encore Capital Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CarePayment Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A
Encore Capital Group	0	0	3	1	3.25

Encore Capital Group has a consensus price target of $60.67, suggesting a potential upside of 29.05%. Given Encore Capital Group’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Encore Capital Group is more favorable than CarePayment Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares CarePayment Technologies and Encore Capital Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CarePayment Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A
Encore Capital Group	-15.43%	11.12%	2.40%

Volatility and Risk

CarePayment Technologies has a beta of -0.51, meaning that its stock price is 151% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Encore Capital Group has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Encore Capital Group beats CarePayment Technologies on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CarePayment Technologies

CarePayment Technologies, Inc. provides accounts receivable services in the United States. It offers services for accounts receivables generated by healthcare providers in connection with providing healthcare services to their patients under the CarePayment brand name. The company was formerly known as microHelix, Inc. CarePayment Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is based in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

About Encore Capital Group

Encore Capital Group, Inc., a specialty finance company, provides debt recovery solutions and other related services for consumers across financial assets worldwide. The company purchases portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts to face value, as well as manages them by working with individuals as they repay their obligations and works toward financial recovery. It is also involved in the provision of early stage collection, business process outsourcing, and contingent collection services. In addition, the company engages in debt servicing and other portfolio management services to credit originator for non-performing loans. Further, it offers credit management services. Encore Capital Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.