Hey there,
Propel's business model is similiar to goeasy (GSY) - the financial side of goeasy. They target sub-prime client, that is client that have low credit ratings. So far, the company is performing very well despite their short history. They IPO'd like 2 years ago and if you look at their chart, they only moved past their IPO price with the recent surge.
One of the reasons I stayed away from PRL, is because I have a big exposure to GSY and secondly, because I am not as familiar with the US sub-prime lending area. Canada's financial industry is much more structured, so I wasn't really sure if the same opportunities that GSY had, were prevalent in the US. If i didn't own GSY, i probably would take a look at this one today. It does seem to be performing quite well and is posting excellent growth rates.
That said, it is getting up there in terms of valuation - especially for an alternate lender. Trading at 14x earnings (11x forward) is on the high end of alternate lenders. So I'd be careful jumping in too fast here, however it is one I'd have no problems looking into and potentially starting a position. In fact, I may consider picking some up in the future if it continues to perform as it has. 2 years is still a short period of time, but its been a chaotic 2yrs from a macro environment and they seem to be doing well.
Mat