PRA Group (PRAA) Q1 Earnings & Revenues Miss Estimates

PRA Group Inc. (NASDAQ:PRAA) reported first-quarter 2016 earnings per share of 85 cents that missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents by a 10.53%. The bottom line declined 28.6% from the year-ago quarter.

PRA Group Inc. (PRAA) Street EPS & Surprise Percent - Last 5 Quarters | FindTheCompany

PRA Group’s total revenue came in at $224.9 million, down 8.3% year over year due to lower income from finance receivables and other revenues, partially offset by higher fee income. Revenues also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $238 million by 5.5%.

Quarterly Update

Cash collections declined 3.9% year over year to $384.3 million mainly due to lower collections from Americas-Insolvency – down 28.3% to $68.6 million. Collections at America-Core remained almost flat year over year at $219.6 million, while collections at Europe-Core increased 12% to $94.1 million. Collections at Europe-Insolvency soared 109% year on year to $2 million.

Additionally, PRA Group’s revenues from finance receivables income came in at $206.5 million, down 9.4%. Other revenues plunged 43.8% to $2.1 million. Fee income increased 24.4% to $16.2 million.

Operating expenses rose 3.4% year over year to $154 million. This was mainly due to higher compensation and employee services expenses, agency fees, outside fees and services, rent and occupancy expenses, and other operating expenses.

Increased expenses and lower revenues resulted in a year-over-year decline of 26.3% in operating income. Subsequently, operating margin contracted 770 basis points to 31.5%.

Financial Update

As of Mar 31, 2016, PRA Group had total assets worth $3.3 billion, up 9% from year-end 2015. The company exited the quarter with total equity of $0.9 billion, up 8.2% from Dec 31, 2015.

Cash and cash equivalents as of Mar 31, 2016 were $79.4 million, up 11.2% from year-end 2015. For the reported quarter, borrowings increased 11.8% to $1.9 billion.

Zacks Rank

PRA Group currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Performance of Other Insurers

The bottom line at American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) beat their respective Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter ending as of Mar 31, 2016, while Western Union (NYSE:WU) missed the same.