In the latest close session, Western Union (WU) was up +1.51% at $9.41. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.55%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.63%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.91%.
Shares of the money transfer company witnessed a loss of 0.86% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Business Services sector with its loss of 2.82%, and underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 0.71%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Western Union in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.43, reflecting a 7.5% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.04 billion, down 2.11% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $1.73 per share and a revenue of $4.08 billion, demonstrating changes of -0.57% and 0%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Western Union. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.06% upward. As of now, Western Union holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
From a valuation perspective, Western Union is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.19. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 12.8 of its industry.
Investors should also note that WU has a PEG ratio of 2.99 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the Financial Transaction Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.96.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 174, positioning it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in 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 Western Union Company (WU): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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