Which Is a Better Investment, EZCORP, Inc. or FirstCash Holdings, Inc. Stock?

By Rosalio Madrigal
May 03, 2026
Large versus logo comparing two stocks in the same industry
Featured Tickers:

Sifting through countless of stocks in the Consumer Finance industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc.

EZCORP, Inc. provides pawn services in the United States, Mexixo, and Latin America. It operates through U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Other Investments segments. The company retails merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn lending operations and pre-owned merchandise purchased from customers. It also provides pawn loans collateralized by tangible personal property, jewelry, consumer electronics, tools, sporting goods, and musical instruments. In addition, the company offers EZ+, a web-based application that allow customers to manage their pawn transactions, layaways, and loyalty rewards online. Further, the company operates under the EZPAWN, Value Pawn & Jewelry, Empeño Fácil, Cash Apoyo Efectivo, GuatePrenda, and MaxiEfectivo brands. EZCORP, Inc. was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

FirstCash Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, rest of Latin America, and the United Kingdom. The company operates through four segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, U.K. Pawn, and Retail POS Payment Solutions segments. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures and over-the-counter purchases from customers. The company also provides retail POS payment solutions, which focuses on LTO products and facilitating other retail financing payment options across the network of traditional and e-commerce merchant partners. It serves cash and credit-constrained consumers. The company was formerly known as FirstCash, Inc and changed its name to FirstCash Holdings, Inc. in December 2021. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Latest Consumer Finance and EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings, Inc. Stock News

As of May 1, 2026, EZCORP, Inc. had a $2.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Consumer Finance median of $1.1 million. EZCORP, Inc.’s stock is up 66.6% in 2026, up 1.5% in the previous five trading days and up 97.68% in the past year.

Currently, EZCORP, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 20.6. EZCORP, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.3 billion with a 9.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 19.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.850 per share for the current fiscal year. EZCORP, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of May 1, 2026, FirstCash Holdings, Inc. had a $9.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 77th percentile of all stocks. FirstCash Holdings, Inc.’s stock is up 37.8% in 2026, up 0.3% in the previous five trading days and up 64.18% in the past year.

Currently, FirstCash Holdings, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 27.6. FirstCash Holdings, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $3.9 billion with a 9.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 25.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $10.897 per share for the current fiscal year. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. currently has a 0.8% dividend yield.

How We Compare EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

Learn more about A+ Investor here!

Sign Up to Receive a Free Special Report Showing How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Smarter Investment Decisions

EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
EZCORP, Inc. EZPW C
FirstCash Holdings, Inc. FCFS C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

EZCORP, Inc. has a Value Score of 54, which is Average. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a Value Score of 44, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company Ticker Momentum
EZCORP, Inc. EZPW A
FirstCash Holdings, Inc. FCFS B

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

EZCORP, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 90, which is Very Strong. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 80, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: EZCORP, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, EZCORP, Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to FirstCash Holdings, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, EZCORP, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company Ticker Earnings Estimate
EZCORP, Inc. EZPW B
FirstCash Holdings, Inc. FCFS B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

EZCORP, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 79, which is Positive. FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 76, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, both EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. have a grade of B. For those focusing solely on a company’s estimate revisions, other financial metrics will need to be evaluated to determine whether EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings or Inc. is a better fit.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Momentum and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Quality.

AAII Platinum Banner

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings or Inc. Stock?

Overall, EZCORP, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 54, Momentum Score of 90 and Estimate Revisions Score of 79.

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 44, Momentum Score of 80 and Estimate Revisions Score of 76.

Comparing EZCORP, Inc., FirstCash Holdings and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Learn More About A+ Investor

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



Find New Stock Opportunities With Included With AAII Platinum
O'Shaughnessy Tiny Titans
Screen:
23.7%
Annual Gain Since Inception. Data as of 12/31/2024.




Try AAII Platinum and get full access to
769.3% Stock Superstars Portfolio Total Return Since Inception
Compare to:
710.3% iShare DOW Jones
U.S. Index ETF (IYY)

SSR Group 3 O'Shaughnessy portfolio has a 411.2% gain since inception performance compared to IYY at only 119.1%% Performance as of 11/29/24.

Get your free copy of our special report analyzing the tech stocks most likely to outperform the market.

Download the FREE Report Here:

BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $2

Get access to powerful investment discovery tools and a wealth of investment education to help you achieve your financial goals.