Start here if you're new
what it is
PRA buys old unpaid consumer debts, then tries to collect more than it paid for them.
how it gets paid
Last year Pra made $1.2B in revenue. core nonperforming loan collections was the main engine at $0.78B, or 65% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 7.8% last year. The number that mattered was $868M of quarterly revenue.
what just happened
PRA Group posted $868M of quarterly revenue, up 179% vs. prior year, and still showed EPS of -$9.20.
At a glance
C+ balance sheet — struggling to keep the lights on
10/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
6.1x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
4.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$1.79 fy2024 eps est
xvary composite: 29/100 — weak
What they do
PRA buys old unpaid consumer debts, then tries to collect more than it paid for them.
This business wins on scale and repetition. It works across the Americas, Europe, and Australia with 2,897 employees, so when your unpaid credit card balance gets sold, PRA already has the collectors, lawyers, and systems in place. Nonperforming loans (debts banks stopped chasing) → old consumer debt bought cheaply → so what: if PRA collects even a little better than smaller rivals, your return moves fast.
How they make money
$1.2B
annual revenue · their business grew +7.8% last year
core nonperforming loan collections
$0.78B
+7.8%
insolvency collections
$0.24B
+4.0%
class action claims recoveries
$0.06B
0.0%
other fee-based portfolio services
$0.12B
0.0%
The products that matter
buys charged-off debt portfolios
Portfolio Acquisitions
$1.2B deployed last year
This is the raw material for everything else. It purchased $1.2B in loans last year, which means future cash collections depend on buying well and underwriting recoveries correctly.
inventory engine
turns old debt into cash
Cash Collections
$531.7M last quarter
This is the number that keeps the model alive. Quarterly cash collections reached $531.7M, up 13.6% from a year ago, which matters because debt buyers live and die by cash turning up on schedule.
13.6% growth
regional collections platform
Europe
$361M revenue
Europe contributes $361M versus $843M in the Americas. It's meaningful, but still the smaller side of the house. If one region stumbles, you do not have a perfectly balanced business to absorb it.
30% of revenue
Key numbers
$3.6B
long-term debt
That is the number to respect first. It is more than 5 times the company's roughly $643M market cap.
6.1x
trailing p/e
Cheap stocks often look cheap for a reason. Here, the reason is leverage and erratic earnings.
2.5%
operating margin
Negative margin means the company is not turning its revenue into operating profit right now.
4.0%
return on capital
Return on capital (profit earned on money invested) → efficiency score → so what: 4% is weak for a leveraged financial business.
Financial health
C+
strength
- balance sheet grade C+ — weak — may struggle to fund operations
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 20 / 100
- long-term debt $3.6B (85% of capital)
C+ — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for PRAA right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
PRA Group posted $868M of quarterly revenue, up 179% vs. prior year, and still showed EPS of -$9.20.
EDGAR shows a huge revenue jump in the latest quarter, but profitability stayed ugly. also shows FY2024 EPS of $1.79 after a FY2023 loss of -$2.13, which tells you this business can swing from hero to hostage fast.
$300M
revenue
$9.20
eps
+179%
revenue vs. last year
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was $868M of quarterly revenue, because a business can survive ugly optics longer than it can survive weak collections.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
The #1 risk here is cash collections failing to justify a highly levered portfolio-purchase machine.
high
Leverage risk
PRAA carries $3.6B in long-term debt, equal to 85% of capital. That leaves very little room for collections to disappoint.
High debt can turn an operating wobble into an equity problem fast.
high
Impairment and asset value risk
The $305M annual net loss was driven by a goodwill impairment charge. That's accounting, but it still tells you prior asset values or expectations did not hold up.
If more write-downs show up, the "cheap" multiple stops looking cheap.
med
Execution risk on portfolio purchases
The company bought $1.2B of loans last year and outlined a $1B–$1.3B annual investment plan. If underwriting slips, you do not notice it immediately — you notice later when collections underperform.
Bad purchase discipline today becomes weaker cash recovery later.
med
Reporting and oversight risk
Recent filings referenced SEC attention around risk of material misstatement. We are not adding detail that is not in the snapshot, but even this limited disclosure matters.
More scrutiny can raise compliance costs and reduce trust in reported numbers.
A $643M equity value is sitting underneath $3.6B in long-term debt and a business that just booked a $305M annual loss. That's a narrow bridge.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
collections
cash collections staying above the story
$531.7M last quarter is the proof point. If that number stalls while portfolio buying stays aggressive, the thesis gets worse quickly.
calendar
q1 2026 earnings
Expected on or around May 11, 2026. You want to see whether the quarterly EPS beat was a one-off or the start of cleaner execution.
balance sheet
debt versus deployment
Management outlined a $1B–$1.3B annual investment plan while already carrying $3.6B in debt. More buying only helps if recoveries stay strong.
strategy
PRA 3.0 execution
The multi-year plan is the operating reset. Watch whether it improves predictability, because a 10/100 earnings predictability score says the market still does not trust the script.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
10 / 100
Only a small slice of stocks score worse on consistency. In human-speak, analysts think the numbers can swing hard and surprise you.
risk rank
4
Risk rank 4 means safer than roughly 20% of stocks, not 80%. In plain English: this sits in the riskier part of the market.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for PRAA is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$18
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive