FirstCash Continuing To Make Steady, Value-Creating Progress

Leading pawn store operator FirstCash (FCFS) continues to reap the benefits of a disciplined strategy for building out its fast-growing Latin American operations and simultaneous turning around and integrating the acquired operations of Cash America in the U.S. business. That has not only shown itself in improving underlying financial results but also a higher share price, with the stock more than 70% higher than it was a year ago (versus a 36% rise in its only real publicly-traded comp, EZCORP (EZPW)).

I'm a long-term FirstCash shareholder, but it's hard to argue that FirstCash is significantly undervalued today. A more benign USD/MXN exchange rate could certainly help some, the Cash America stores could start contributing positively more quickly than I expect, and/or the LatAm expansion could be even more successful than I expect, but I think the share price is pretty close to where it ought to be considering the growth potential and the operational risk.

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FirstCash Continuing To Make Steady, Value-Creating Progress