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WEX Announces Completion of Discovery Benefits Acquisition
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WEX Inc. (WEX - Free Report) yesterday announced the completion of previously-announced acquisition of Discovery Benefits, Inc. (DBI). The transaction is valued at $425 million in cash, which includes $50 million to be deferred till January 2020.
Discovery Benefits is a high-growth employee benefits administrator serving more than one million consumers across 50 states. The company has been in a longstanding partnership with WEX’s Health division, hence the takeover formalizes its status.
We observe that shares of WEX have gained 27% year to date compared with 15.9% rise of the industry it belongs to.
How Will WEX Benefit?
The buyout integrates WEX’s cloud-based technology platform with Discovery Benefits’ leading benefits account technology. This should boost WEX’s position as a technology platform in the healthcare space and enhance employee benefits platform.
The company expects to witness at least $15 million of annual run-rate synergies in the first two years following the deal closure. The sellers of Discovery Benefits will retain nearly 5% equity interest of the combined entity.
The acquisition is likely to boost WEX’s Health and Employee Benefit Solutions segment, which reported 1.2% year over year decline in revenues in third-quarter 2018 due tomacroeconomic headwinds in Brazil.
A few top-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Omnicom (OMC - Free Report) , Robert Half (RHI - Free Report) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP - Free Report) . While Robert Half sports a Zacks Rank #1, Omnicom and Automatic Data Processing carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Long-term expected EPS (three to five years) growth rate for Omnicom, Robert Half and Automatic Data Processing is 6.9%, 8.4% and 12.8%, respectively.
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WEX Announces Completion of Discovery Benefits Acquisition
WEX Inc. (WEX - Free Report) yesterday announced the completion of previously-announced acquisition of Discovery Benefits, Inc. (DBI). The transaction is valued at $425 million in cash, which includes $50 million to be deferred till January 2020.
Discovery Benefits is a high-growth employee benefits administrator serving more than one million consumers across 50 states. The company has been in a longstanding partnership with WEX’s Health division, hence the takeover formalizes its status.
We observe that shares of WEX have gained 27% year to date compared with 15.9% rise of the industry it belongs to.
How Will WEX Benefit?
The buyout integrates WEX’s cloud-based technology platform with Discovery Benefits’ leading benefits account technology. This should boost WEX’s position as a technology platform in the healthcare space and enhance employee benefits platform.
WEX Inc. Revenue (TTM)
WEX Inc. Revenue (TTM) | WEX Inc. Quote
The company expects to witness at least $15 million of annual run-rate synergies in the first two years following the deal closure. The sellers of Discovery Benefits will retain nearly 5% equity interest of the combined entity.
The acquisition is likely to boost WEX’s Health and Employee Benefit Solutions segment, which reported 1.2% year over year decline in revenues in third-quarter 2018 due tomacroeconomic headwinds in Brazil.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Currently, WEX carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
A few top-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Omnicom (OMC - Free Report) , Robert Half (RHI - Free Report) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP - Free Report) . While Robert Half sports a Zacks Rank #1, Omnicom and Automatic Data Processing carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Long-term expected EPS (three to five years) growth rate for Omnicom, Robert Half and Automatic Data Processing is 6.9%, 8.4% and 12.8%, respectively.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
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