Pinned straw:
PNC is in a tawdry industry.
Sure, the Banks will sell the ledgers to PNC because there isn't much competition left - but very probably on the basis that they (PNC) won't go after the poor blighters who have defaulted on their debts like a junk yard dog. But debt collection isn’t for the feint hearted and softly, softly equals less collections.
This, at a time when households are struggling to put bangers and mash on the table. Call me a cynic, but humans are only as honest & responsible as they can afford to be.
Then we have the complex accounting treatment of recognizing revenue streams & PDL valuations etc. Buffett was right, when he said, “there seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.”
This stuff is way beyond my circle of competence, which I will admit is getting smaller & smaller – plus – PNC might/may (and have had in the past) a capable management team which over rewards the top table.
I will admit I did well with the PNC Bonds I bought, they paid an extraordinary return; frankly I was happy to redeem them with no loss of capital. But to hold the shares, no thanks.
An interesting in-depth analysis of Pioneer Credit (PNC)
"The point here is that we don’t need to get this down to a precise science when we have a downside conservative liquidation value of between $200-330M (depending on how punitive your assumptions are); one that is absolutely lightyears away from the ~$60M market cap ascribed to Pioneer’s equity by the market today. At today’s levels, this serves a monumental margin of safety for investors."
"Trading at a 3x FY26 P/E multiple and 0.3x conservative liquidation value, the business is materially undervalued on both a relative and absolute basis. "