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Why Western Union (WU) Outpaced the Stock Market Today

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Western Union (WU - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $8.56, demonstrating a +1.3% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.11%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.19%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.43%.

Shares of the money transfer company have depreciated by 10.11% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Business Services sector's loss of 1.02%, and the S&P 500's gain of 3.92%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Western Union in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.44, showcasing no movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.03 billion, down 3.44% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.77 per share and a revenue of $4.12 billion, representing changes of +1.72% and -2.11%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Western Union. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. 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 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.1% lower. As of now, Western Union holds a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

From a valuation perspective, Western Union is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 4.77. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 15.91.

We can additionally observe that WU currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.27. 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 average PEG ratio for the Financial Transaction Services industry stood at 1.27 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 66, this industry ranks in the top 27% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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