Word: pawnshops
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...Pawnshop companies make money by giving short-term loans to customers who offer jewelry, electronics, tools, musical instruments and other merchandise as collateral or by purchasing merchandise outright from customers at a steep discount. Loan terms are typically one to three months in length, with customers expected to cough up monthly storage and loan-servicing fees of 10% to 20% a month. If a customer fails to make a monthly payment, the pawnshop, following a grace period, can sell the item. (See the five big questions about retirement...
...Gold is an important input because most pawnshops make most of their money on jewelry," notes John Rowan, an analyst at Sidoti & Co. He says the three publicly traded pawnshop companies - Cash America International, EZCorp and First Cash Financial Services - generated earnings that outperformed many other companies in the financial-services sector over the past year and a half. "They didn't crater like other industries did throughout the recession," says Rowan...
First Cash Financial recently raised earnings guidance for fiscal 2009 and 2010 to reflect higher than expected revenue from the company's pawnshop operations in the U.S. and Mexico. "Our fourth-quarter pawn revenues significantly exceeded our expectations," said Rick Wessel, the company's chief executive, in a statement. The revised projections imply earnings growth of 20% to 26% for the fourth quarter, up to 14% for fiscal 2009 and as much as 16% in fiscal 2010. (See the worst business deals...
...bigger obstacle for pawnshop owners is legislation. The three public pawnshop companies also make so-called payday loans: short-term loans, typically seven to 30 days in length, that are not backed by merchandise. The loans typically carry interest rates of 10% to 20% for a two-week term, which translates into an annual percentage rate exceeding 300%. Industry experts say the APR is just theoretical since payday loans are meant to be very short term, lasting only until the borrower's next paycheck. Even so, a number of states, like Ohio, are imposing caps on the rates...
When politicians began discussing similar restrictions at the federal level, nervous investors sold off the pawnshop stocks. When the most restrictive proposal - a 36% cap proposed by Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois - failed to win support, the shares rebounded. However, the Senator has reintroduced the bill in the current session of Congress, and it could ultimately find its way into financial-industry reform. More worrisome to investors is the potential power of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, part of the financial-reform bill recently passed by the House and under consideration in the Senate. Under the current versions...