Encore Capital reports Q1 EPS 95c, consensus 94c

Reports Q1 revenue $328.4M, consensus $330.83M.”2024 is off to a strong start for Encore as our first quarter performance aligned well with expectations,” said Ashish Masih, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Growth in portfolio purchasing, collections and cash generation in the first quarter reinforces our belief that 2024 will be the turning point in Encore’s operational and financial results.” “In the U.S., the highly favorable purchasing conditions continue, driven by credit card lending growth and rising charge off rates. We remain committed to allocating capital to our highest return opportunities with 80% of our global portfolio purchases in Q1 concentrated in the U.S., resulting in $237 million deployed by MCM, establishing a new quarterly record for our U.S. business.” “In Europe, the portfolio purchasing market remains very competitive. Although we continue to see some examples of improved pricing, we believe European market pricing still does not consistently reflect the higher cost of capital caused by higher interest rates. As a result, we continue to exercise discipline and are constraining Cabot portfolio purchases.” “Our first quarter global collections of $511 million were up 10% compared to a year ago and were in line with expectations, continuing to reflect a stable collections environment in our key markets.” “Driven by the disciplined execution of our strategy, along with the continued favorable portfolio purchasing environment in the U.S., our performance in Q1 keeps us on track to deliver on our 2024 guidance provided in February. This guidance called for portfolio purchasing this year to exceed our 2023 total and for our collections to grow approximately 8% to over $2 billion. We also remain committed to the critical role we play in the consumer credit ecosystem and to helping consumers restore their financial health,” said Masih.