Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, bad-debt collector Portfolio Recovery Associates (Nasdaq: PRAA) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Portfolio Recovery's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Portfolio Recovery facts

Headquarters (Founded) Norfolk, Va. (1996)
Market Cap $1.21 billion
Industry Specialized finance
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $441.6 million
Management Co-Founder/Chairman/CEO Steven Fredrickson
Co-Founder/CFO Kevin Stevenson
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) 16.1%
Cash/Debt $30 million / $261.6 million
Competitors Asset Acceptance
Encore Capital Group (Nasdaq: ECPG)

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 97% of the 3,135 members who have rated Portfolio Recovery believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include robertshrestha and gameguru.

Earlier this week, robertshrestha listed several of Portfolio Recovery's positives: "Management with great experience/knowledge in debt collection biz, decent growth expectations, stock unfairly pummeled over last few months. Great combination for market-beating."

Portfolio Recovery even boasts a robust three-year average operating margin of 33.4%. That's much higher than that of rivals Asset Acceptance (2.6%) and Encore Capital (22.1%), as well as other debt-related business services companies like Fair Isaac (NYSE: FICO) (20%) and Equifax (NYSE: EFX) (23.7%).

CAPS member gameguru elaborates on the bargain opportunity:

[Portfolio Recovery] got taken out behind the woodshed and shot. Repeatedly. ... At this level, the company could pretty much shutter its doors, run off existing collections, and still be worth every penny of the share price. Debt collection isn't going away, no matter how much we may dislike those who do it. This is a long-term cash machine on sale.

What do you think about Portfolio Recovery, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to put together the best portfolio you can. Owning exceptional stocks is a surefire way to secure your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to find them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!

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