Western Union (WU) ended the recent trading session at $11.14, demonstrating a -0.45% swing from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.39%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.61%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.32%.
Heading into today, shares of the money transfer company had gained 3.04% over the past month, outpacing the Business Services sector's gain of 3% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 3.6% in that time.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Western Union in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Western Union to post earnings of $0.42 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 13.51%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $1.03 billion, indicating a 2.48% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.77 per share and a revenue of $4.18 billion, representing changes of +1.72% and -4.11%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Western Union should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged. Western Union is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Western Union is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 6.33. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 16.01 for its industry.
We can also see that WU currently has a PEG ratio of 1.57. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. Financial Transaction Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.32 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, finds itself in the top 31% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
