In the latest trading session, Western Union (WU) closed at $9.37, marking a -1.37% move from the previous day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.41%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.83%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.91%.
Shares of the money transfer company have appreciated by 1.93% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Business Services sector's loss of 4.89%, and the S&P 500's gain of 0.38%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Western Union in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on February 20, 2026. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.43, marking a 7.5% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.04 billion, down 2.11% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.73 per share and revenue of $4.08 billion. These totals would mark changes of -0.57% and 0%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Western Union. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the business performance and profit potential.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, 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 moved 0.06% higher. Western Union is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
From a valuation perspective, Western Union is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.32. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.11.
Meanwhile, WU's PEG ratio is currently 3.07. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Financial Transaction Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 0.97 at yesterday's closing price.
The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 174, putting it in the bottom 29% 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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming 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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