3 Reasons CCRT Could Beat Forecasts

A while ago, an emailer brought CompuCredit (CCRT) to my attention for several reasons. CCRT is a sub-prime lender (excluding mortgages) that provides financial services and credit to the sub-prime consumer market with low-limits and high fees, such as payday loans and auto loans.

CCRT has seen strong buy interest recently, however several key catalysts could push shares higher when it reports its earnings today.

Forecasts were for $4 eps (managed earnings) for 2007, which could be raised because of three reasons:

The company bought back shares held by its largest shareholder, John Devaney, in 1Q and placed those shares into treasury (removing them from the eps calc for the rest of the year).

The company purchased a $900 million portfolio from Barclays at a $200 million discount to face value. These two events were not factored into the $4 number.

Bear Stearns already raised estimates, but shares will move higher should management increase numbers.