Western Union (WU) closed the latest trading day at $10.63, indicating a +0.76% change from the previous session's end. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.67% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.56%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.87%.

The money transfer company's stock has dropped by 0.85% in the past month, exceeding the Business Services sector's loss of 3.55% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.28%.

The upcoming earnings release of Western Union will be of great interest to investors. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.42, down 6.67% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $1.01 billion, down 3.75% from the year-ago period.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $1.79 per share and revenue of $4.14 billion, indicating changes of +2.87% and -1.75%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Western Union. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. Western Union currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In the context of valuation, Western Union is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 5.89. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 15.19, so one might conclude that Western Union is trading at a discount comparatively.

One should further note that WU currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.29. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Financial Transaction Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.44.

The Financial Transaction Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 140, placing it within the bottom 44% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming 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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