We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Western Union Ramps Up Digital Efforts Amid Coronavirus Woes
Read MoreHide Full Article
The Western Union Company (WU - Free Report) continues to enhance its digital money transfer services for encouraging customers to stay at home and contain the coronavirus spread. The digital money transfer services are now available across 75 countries and pay out into a global widespread network of four billion accounts and wallets in 100 countries along with an impressive retail network across 200 countries and territories.
The company has been coordinating with its agents, partners and regulators to provide uninterrupted fund transfer facilities to communities. Its initiatives include easier onboarding, services like ‘Digital locations’ available in certain countries, etc.
Rationale Behind the Step
The underlying intention of the company is to help customers with easy transactions via its vast network of digital channels during the global pandemic. Customers can enjoy an end-to-end digital payments experience while following community restrictions and stay-at-home orders.
Increased transactions, in turn, are likely to boost the company’s digital business, which has been witnessing solid growth over the past many years. Revenues from the digital platform, which generate substantial businesses for Western Union, registered a 25% rise year over year in the fourth quarter of 2019. Additionally, the westernunion.com channel became integral to the company’s business, accounting for nearly 15% of total money transfer revenues in 2019.
The company’s digital offerings cater to all the globally leading 20 remittance-sending countries, per the World Bank ranking.
The company’s strong financial position allows it to remain committed to serve its customers through its wide network. Customers’ trust and confidence in every transaction they make gained more importance amid the prevalent uncertainty revolving around the COVID-19 syndrome.
On Mar 26, 2020, the company came up with a new channel, Digital Location, piloted in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Oman to allow customers to connect in several different languages via a voice or video call with a money transfer personal-service assistant who will solve their transaction-related queries. Customers will electronically close their money transfers with the aid of cards for payout into Western Union’s Global Network.
These updates issued by the company also seem to restore customers’ confidence in the company. We believe that an uptick in digital transactions is likely to boost the overall business.
However, the company has withdrawn its earlier-provided earnings guidance for 2020 following the COVID-19-induced business uncertainty.
In a year's time, shares of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 4.2%, wider than its industry's decline of 3.3%. However, factors like growing digital platform and business streamlining would likely help the stock bounce back going forward.
The price performance looks better than other companies in the same space, such as Alliance Data Systems Corporation , FleetCor Technologies, Inc. and WEX Inc. (WEX - Free Report) , which have shed 80.8%, 25.4% and 47% of value in the same time frame. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year.
Image: Bigstock
Western Union Ramps Up Digital Efforts Amid Coronavirus Woes
The Western Union Company (WU - Free Report) continues to enhance its digital money transfer services for encouraging customers to stay at home and contain the coronavirus spread. The digital money transfer services are now available across 75 countries and pay out into a global widespread network of four billion accounts and wallets in 100 countries along with an impressive retail network across 200 countries and territories.
The company has been coordinating with its agents, partners and regulators to provide uninterrupted fund transfer facilities to communities. Its initiatives include easier onboarding, services like ‘Digital locations’ available in certain countries, etc.
Rationale Behind the Step
The underlying intention of the company is to help customers with easy transactions via its vast network of digital channels during the global pandemic. Customers can enjoy an end-to-end digital payments experience while following community restrictions and stay-at-home orders.
Increased transactions, in turn, are likely to boost the company’s digital business, which has been witnessing solid growth over the past many years. Revenues from the digital platform, which generate substantial businesses for Western Union, registered a 25% rise year over year in the fourth quarter of 2019. Additionally, the westernunion.com channel became integral to the company’s business, accounting for nearly 15% of total money transfer revenues in 2019.
The company’s digital offerings cater to all the globally leading 20 remittance-sending countries, per the World Bank ranking.
The company’s strong financial position allows it to remain committed to serve its customers through its wide network. Customers’ trust and confidence in every transaction they make gained more importance amid the prevalent uncertainty revolving around the COVID-19 syndrome.
On Mar 26, 2020, the company came up with a new channel, Digital Location, piloted in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Oman to allow customers to connect in several different languages via a voice or video call with a money transfer personal-service assistant who will solve their transaction-related queries. Customers will electronically close their money transfers with the aid of cards for payout into Western Union’s Global Network.
These updates issued by the company also seem to restore customers’ confidence in the company. We believe that an uptick in digital transactions is likely to boost the overall business.
However, the company has withdrawn its earlier-provided earnings guidance for 2020 following the COVID-19-induced business uncertainty.
In a year's time, shares of the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have lost 4.2%, wider than its industry's decline of 3.3%. However, factors like growing digital platform and business streamlining would likely help the stock bounce back going forward.
The price performance looks better than other companies in the same space, such as Alliance Data Systems Corporation , FleetCor Technologies, Inc. and WEX Inc. (WEX - Free Report) , which have shed 80.8%, 25.4% and 47% of value in the same time frame. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year.
See their latest picks free >>