The most recent trading session ended with Western Union (WU) standing at $10.32, reflecting a -0.77% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.51%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.75%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 0.28%.
Heading into today, shares of the money transfer company had lost 0.38% over the past month, lagging the Business Services sector's gain of 6.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.87% in that time.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Western Union in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on February 4, 2025. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.42, indicating a 13.51% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $1.03 billion, down 2.48% from the year-ago period.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Western Union. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged. Western Union is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Western Union currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 5.68. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.43, so one might conclude that Western Union is trading at a discount comparatively.
Meanwhile, WU's PEG ratio is currently 1.41. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Financial Transaction Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.3 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 77, which puts it in the top 31% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow WU in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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