Meta Financial Group

CASH

Meta Financial Group, Inc., is the holding company for MetaBank, N.A., Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, S.D., MetaBank operates in several segments within the Banking and Payments industries: MetaBank, its traditional retail banking operation; Meta Payment Systems, its electronic payments division; AFS/IBEX, its insurance premium financing division; and Refund Advantage, EPS Financial and Specialty Consumer Services, its tax-related financial solutions divisions. MetaBank, the retail banking division, operates 10 retail branches in four market areas: Central Iowa; Storm Lake, Iowa; Brookings, S.D..; and Sioux Falls, S.D.. MetaBank offers traditional banking services designed to serve the needs of individual, agricultural and business depositors and borrowers. Meta Payment Systems (MPS) focuses on offering specific products in the following areas: prepaid cards, credit products, electronic funds transfer, Automated Teller Machine sponsorship and tax-related financial solutions.AFS/IBEX provides short-term, collateralized financing to facilitate the purchase of insurance for commercial property, casualty and liability risk. Based in Dallas, Texas, AFS/IBEX originates loans through a network of independent insurance agencies. Refund Advantage, based in Louisville, Ky., provides tax refund-transfer software for Electronic Return Originators (EROs) and their customers. Their software is used in over 10,000 locations nationwide and processes over one million refund-transfers a year.EPS Financial (EPS) provides refund settlement products, prepaid payroll card solutions and merchant services. EPS is headquartered in Easton, Pennsylvania. Specialty Consumer Services (SCS) provides consumer tax advance services through its proprietary underwriting model and loan management system.

Meta Financial Group has been a target of short sellers for a while. The current short interest of 12.76% is significantly above the average of the last 12 months (9.08%).