ECPG vs IX vs XEL Stock Comparison

Encore Capital, Orix and Xcel Energy Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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ECPG Encore Capital Group Inc
$97.73 +3.5% 1M +120.6% 1Y
Market cap
$2.15B
P/E
7.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.90B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Finance Financial Services
8 wins
IX Orix Corp
$36.44 -6.8% 1M +44.8% 1Y
Market cap
$40.87B
P/E
10.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$55.33B
Div. yield
–
Specialty Finance Financial Services
1 win
XEL Xcel Energy Inc
$78.05 +10.5% 1M -2.9% 1Y
Market cap
$48.66B
P/E
21.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.62B
Div. yield
–
Regulated Electric Utilities Utilities
2 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Encore Capital leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Encore Capital 8, Xcel Energy 2, Orix 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionECPGIXXELLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $2.15B $40.87B $48.66B XEL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 7.1x 10.2x 21.8x ECPG
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 6.9x 7.9x 18.2x ECPG
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +29.5% +2.8% +4.7% ECPG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 15.9% 7.3% 15.3% ECPG
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.7% 3.0% 4.5% ECPG
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 5.4x — 6.4x ECPG
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +120.6% +44.8% -2.9% ECPG
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +13.7%/yr +14.0%/yr +3.6%/yr IX
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 34.7% 28.7% 19.2% XEL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 68/100 50/100 16/100 ECPG

Percentile Scorecard

ECPGIXXEL

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisECPGIXXEL
Valuation 69 #54 of 170 56 #75 of 170 5 #64 of 67
Growth 93 #13 of 165 74 #43 of 165 14 #56 of 65
Profitability 79 #33 of 155 58 #65 of 155 28 #47 of 65
Financial Health 25 #123 of 163 53 #77 of 163 32 #45 of 66
Shareholder Returns 74 #37 of 137 10 #124 of 137 0 #67 of 67
Overall 68 50 16
  • ECPG ranked among 175 companies in Lending and Credit
  • IX ranked among 175 companies in Lending and Credit
  • XEL ranked among 67 companies in Regulated Utilities

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodECPGIXXELSPY
1 month +3.5%-6.8%+10.5% -1.0%
3 months +8.4%-9.6%-4.4% +2.9%
6 months +16.7%+19.9%-1.4% +6.4%
Year to date +79.8%+24.7%+5.7% +11.4%
1 year +120.6%+44.8%-2.9% +13.1%
3 years +138.4%+101.7%+32.1% +79.4%
3 years, per year +33.6%+26.4%+9.7% +21.5%
5 years +89.9%+92.2%+19.1% +67.7%
5 years, per year +13.7%+14.0%+3.6% +10.9%
10 years +391.1%+158.8%+95.4% +255.2%
10 years, per year +17.3%+10.0%+6.9% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureECPGIXXELSPY
Volatility, 1Y 34.7%28.7%19.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.1%28.1%19.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.790.99-0.02 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 3.481.56-0.15 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -62.5%-39.0%-37.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -7.5%-11.8%-7.0% -2.5%
52-week high $105.60$41.31$83.91 $779.14
52-week low $40.90$24.22$69.39 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleECPGIXXEL
P/E now vs peer median 7.0xmedian 11.0x 10.1xmedian 11.0x 21.8xmedian 20.8x
P/S now vs peer median 1.1xmedian 2.6x 0.7xmedian 2.6x 3.3xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 13.1x —median 13.1x 14.8xmedian 13.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 16.6xmedian 6.9x —median 6.9x -6.3xmedian 36.7x
P/B now vs peer median 1.9xmedian 0.7x 1.4xmedian 0.7x 2.0xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 0.02median 0.31 0.39median 0.31 5.11median 2.27

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsECPGIXXEL
Revenue $1.90B $55.33B $14.62B
Gross profit – $13.35B –
Operating income $717.47M $3.05B $2.79B
Net income $301.56M $4.10B $2.23B
Free cash flow $125.14M – -$7.69B
EPS (diluted) $13.23 $3.58 $3.56
Cash & equivalents $182.93M $5.98B $2.01B
Total debt $4.18B $38.96B $39.46B
Shares (diluted) 22.79M 1.12B 627.00M
Enterprise value $1.41B $9.59B $43.57B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricECPGIXXEL
P/E 7.0x 10.1x 21.8x
P/FCF 16.6x – -6.3x
P/Operating cash flow 13.7x – 10.2x
P/S 1.1x 0.7x 3.3x
P/B 1.9x 1.4x 2.0x
P/Tangible book 1.9x 1.4x 2.0x
EV/EBITDA 8.1x – 14.8x
EV/EBIT 8.5x 24.2x 30.9x
EV/Revenue 3.2x 1.3x 5.9x
EV/FCF 48.5x – -11.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 40.1x – 18.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.02 0.39 5.11

Growth

14 metrics
MetricECPGIXXEL
Revenue growth (1Y) 29.5% 2.8% 4.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 17.3% 7.3% -1.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 1,837% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – -24.8% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 184.7% 24.1% 11.0%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 44.8% 7.6% 4.6%
Net income growth (1Y) 438.3% 62.7% 7.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 350.1% 23.4% 8.8%
EPS growth (1Y) 450.0% 64.4% 1.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 359.7% 25.9% 4.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 21.8% – 5.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -4.7% – 2.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 30.1% – -97.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -3.7% – -112.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricECPGIXXEL
Gross margin – 24.1% –
EBITDA margin 39.2% – 39.9%
Operating margin 37.7% 5.5% 19.1%
Pretax margin 20.6% 11.1% 13.7%
Net margin 15.9% 7.3% 15.3%
FCF margin 6.6% – -52.6%
Operating cash flow margin 8.0% – 32.6%
Return on equity 28.5% 14.1% 9.3%
Return on assets 5.5% 3.6% 2.6%
Return on invested capital 10.7% 3.0% 4.5%
Return on capital employed – – 3.6%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.5x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.5x – 2.1x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% – 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricECPGIXXEL
Debt / assets 75.1% 34.6% 45.3%
Debt / equity 3.9x 1.3x 1.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 5.4x – 6.4x
Debt / FCF 33.4x – -5.1x
Liabilities / assets 80.6% 73.8% 72.4%
Equity / assets 19.4% 26.2% 27.6%
Interest coverage 2.4x 2.4x 1.7x
Current ratio – – 0.7x
Quick ratio – – 0.4x
Cash ratio – – 0.2x
Altman Z-score – – 0.86

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricECPGIXXEL
Dividend yield – 1.1% 3.0%
Net buyback yield 5.4% – -4.5%
Shareholder yield 5.4% 1.1% -1.6%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusECPGIXXEL
Forward P/E 6.9xFY2026 7.9xFY2026 18.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $14.11FY2026 $4.59FY2026 $4.29FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +29.3%FY2026 +80.7%FY2026 +12.9%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.4% -27.7% +2.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.84BFY2026 $22.87BFY2026 $16.57BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +4.0%FY2026 +8.2%FY2026 +12.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +11.1% -3.2% +8.7%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersECPGIXXEL
Held by institutions 100.0% 3.3% 95.4%
Institutions holding 283 318 1,284
Change in shares held, QoQ -3.8% +9.5% +7.3%
Institutions buying 159 209 663
Institutions selling 91 57 386
Buyers to sellers 1.75 3.67 1.72

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ECPGIXXEL
ECPG 1.00 0.07 0.01
IX 0.07 1.00 0.09
XEL 0.01 0.09 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ECPG, IX and XEL?

Xcel Energy (XEL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Encore Capital (ECPG) $2.15B, Orix (IX) $40.87B, Xcel Energy (XEL) $48.66B.

Which stock is cheaper, ECPG, IX and XEL?

Encore Capital (ECPG) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Encore Capital (ECPG) 7.1x, Orix (IX) 10.2x, Xcel Energy (XEL) 21.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Encore Capital (ECPG) is cheapest (Encore Capital (ECPG) 6.9x, Orix (IX) 7.9x, Xcel Energy (XEL) 18.2x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Encore Capital (ECPG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Encore Capital (ECPG) +29.5%, Orix (IX) +2.8%, Xcel Energy (XEL) +4.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Encore Capital (ECPG) has the highest net margin (Encore Capital (ECPG) 15.9%, Orix (IX) 7.3%, Xcel Energy (XEL) 15.3%). On return on invested capital, Encore Capital (ECPG) leads (Encore Capital (ECPG) 10.7%, Orix (IX) 3.0%, Xcel Energy (XEL) 4.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Encore Capital (ECPG) returned the most: Encore Capital (ECPG) +120.6%, Orix (IX) +44.8%, Xcel Energy (XEL) -2.9%. Over five years, Orix (IX) compounded fastest (Encore Capital (ECPG) +13.7%/yr, Orix (IX) +14.0%/yr, Xcel Energy (XEL) +3.6%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Xcel Energy (XEL) has been the steadiest (Encore Capital (ECPG) 34.7%, Orix (IX) 28.7%, Xcel Energy (XEL) 19.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ECPG, IX and XEL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Encore Capital (ECPG) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.