UPDATE 1-Portfolio Recovery Q4 profit beats Street estimates

* Q4 EPS $1.20 vs est $1.12

* Q4 cash collections up 52 pct

* Q4 rev up 38 pct, but misses estimates

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Debt collector Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street estimates, helped by higher cash collections.

For the October-December period, the company reported a net income of $20.6 million, or $1.20 per share, compared with $12.4 million, or 80 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 38 percent to $100.8 million.

Analysts on an average expected a profit of $1.12 a share, on revenue of $107.95 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cash collections at the company, which has a market value of $1.35 billion, rose 52 percent to $144.4 million.

On Monday, rival debt collector Encore Capital Group Inc posted market beating profits helped by a rise in gross collections.

Debt collection companies buy troubled consumer debt portfolios sold by banks and other institutions and try to get borrowers to repay at least in part.

The Norfolk, Virginia-based company's shares, which have gained 18 percent since the company posted third-quarter results, closed at $79.10 on Tuesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Rachel Chitra in Bangalore)