Western Union (WU) ended the recent trading session at $10.54, demonstrating a -0.94% swing from the preceding day's closing price. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.91%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 1.5%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.96%.

Shares of the money transfer company have appreciated by 3.91% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Business Services sector's loss of 9.97% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.38%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Western Union in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $0.44, reflecting a 2.22% decrease from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $1.01 billion, indicating a 3.75% decrease compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $1.79 per share and revenue of $4.14 billion, which would represent changes of +2.87% and -1.75%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Western Union. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.48% lower. Currently, Western Union is carrying a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Western Union is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 5.94. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.8, so one might conclude that Western Union is trading at a discount comparatively.

It's also important to note that WU currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.3. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Financial Transaction Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.37.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 129, finds itself in the bottom 49% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. 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 Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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