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Western Union (WU) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

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Western Union (WU - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $6.10, demonstrating a +1.67% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.66% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.18%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.05%.

The money transfer company's shares have seen a decrease of 16.44% over the last month, not keeping up with the Business Services sector's loss of 4.68% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.55%.

The upcoming earnings release of Western Union will be of great interest to investors. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.35, signifying a 25.53% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $1.04 billion, indicating a 0.95% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.29 per share and revenue of $4.12 billion, indicating changes of -26.29% and +1.72%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Western Union should also be noted by investors. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.28% decrease. Right now, Western Union possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Western Union is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 4.66. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 13.68 of its industry.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 105, finds itself in the top 43% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. 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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