Stocks · Financial Services · Financial - Credit Services
The Western Union Company WU
$6.00 -0.33% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.87B
Weak trendInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 22, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.23, down 53.4% year over year.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- The shares trade at 4.9× trailing earnings, lower than 81% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 23%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 12%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 34%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 6%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 40%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 9%
- Gross marginBottom 12%
- Operating marginBottom 38%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 28%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 22%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 46%
- Interest coverTop 32%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 4%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 13%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 5%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 9%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 18%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 17%
- 6-month returnBottom 2%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 12%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 9%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 9%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 14%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 17%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 8%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 47%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 13%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 46%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -2.3% | -1.7% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -49.4% | -53.4% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 37.2% | 33.0% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 17.4% | 16.2% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 9.6% | 10.0% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -1.7% | -2.3% | ↑ | Bottom 23% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -53.4% | -49.4% | ↓ | Bottom 12% |
| Gross margin | 33.0% | 37.2% | ↓ | Bottom 12% |
| Operating margin | 16.2% | 17.4% | ↓ | Bottom 38% |
| Net margin | 9.8% | 21.8% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 10.0% | 9.6% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 13.7% | — | Top 9% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -3.3% | — | Bottom 6% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.54×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -2.7%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -1.3 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.60×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.9×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 16.18%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 7.61%
- Shareholder yield
- 23.79%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -4.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -5.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -12.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $6.86
- Target vs current price
- +14.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 49
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 12%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | -26.3% | -4.9% | -10.3% | -10.3% | — |
| Apr 24, 2026 | -37.5% | -4.6% | -2.6% | -8.9% | -9.2% |
| Feb 20, 2026 | +4.7% | -1.8% | +1.0% | -2.8% | -11.7% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | +9.3% | +0.1% | +17.3% | +3.9% | +12.4% |
| Jul 28, 2025 | -4.5% | -1.6% | -7.7% | +1.2% | -5.6% |
| Apr 23, 2025 | +2.5% | +1.3% | +1.1% | -1.2% | -19.8% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | -4.8% | +1.1% | +1.8% | +3.6% | -3.5% |
| Oct 23, 2024 | +4.5% | -0.4% | -6.6% | -7.3% | -10.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $0.31 | $0.42 | -26.3% | $1.01B |
| Apr 24, 2026 | $0.25 | $0.40 | -37.5% | $982.7M |
| Feb 20, 2026 | $0.45 | $0.43 | +4.7% | $1.01B |
| Oct 23, 2025 | $0.47 | $0.43 | +9.3% | $1.03B |
| Jul 28, 2025 | $0.42 | $0.44 | -4.5% | $1.03B |
| Apr 23, 2025 | $0.41 | $0.40 | +2.5% | $983.6M |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $0.40 | $0.42 | -4.8% | $1.06B |
| Oct 23, 2024 | $0.46 | $0.44 | +4.5% | $1.04B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 4.9× | 6.5× | 19th | Top 4% |
| P/E (forward) | 4.7× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 3.8× | — | — | Top 5% |
| EV / Sales | 0.79× | — | — | Top 9% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 21.51% | — | — | Top 13% |
| Earnings yield | 20.50% | — | — | Top 4% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 3.2× – 11.3× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -25.7%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -53.4%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +95.3%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -8.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -13.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -28.6%
- RSI (14)
- 31.2
- Relative volume
- 0.70×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 56.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 99th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.50
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.21
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -41.6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -58.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 29, 2021 | Sep 30, 2026 | -77.6% | 1361 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 8, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -12.9% | 16 days | 17 days (Nov 24, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.87B
- P/E (TTM)
- 4.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.23
- Revenue (TTM)
- $4.03B
- Dividend yield
- 15.67%
- 52-week range
- $5.87 – $10.35
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.07B | $4.48B | $4.36B | $4.21B | $4.04B |
| Gross profit | $2.17B | $1.85B | $1.69B | $1.59B | $1.16B |
| Operating income | $1.12B | $884.9M | $817.5M | $725.8M | $784.2M |
| Net income | $805.8M | $910.6M | $626.0M | $934.2M | $499.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.97 | $2.34 | $1.68 | $2.74 | $1.53 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.04B | $1.06B | $983.6M | $1.03B | $1.03B | $1.01B | $982.7M | $1.01B |
| Net income | $264.8M | $385.7M | $123.5M | $122.1M | $139.6M | $114.4M | $64.7M | $76.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.78 | $1.13 | $0.36 | $0.37 | $0.43 | $0.36 | $0.20 | $0.24 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $1.05B | $581.6M | $783.1M | $406.3M | $543.7M |
| Capital expenditure | -$214.6M | -$208.2M | -$147.8M | -$37.4M | -$150.8M |
| Free cash flow | $830.7M | $373.4M | $635.3M | $368.9M | $392.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$381.6M | -$364.2M | -$349.0M | -$321.5M | -$309.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$409.9M | -$369.9M | -$308.4M | -$186.2M | -$234.6M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $2.79B
- Total assets
- $7.97B
- Total liabilities
- $7.05B
- Total debt
- $2.70B
- Net debt
- $1.34B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $914.7M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 16, 2026 | $0.24 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Jun 16, 2026 | $0.24 | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Mar 17, 2026 | $0.24 | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Dec 22, 2025 | $0.24 | Dec 31, 2025 |
| Sep 16, 2025 | $0.24 | Sep 30, 2025 |
| Jun 16, 2025 | $0.24 | Jun 30, 2025 |
| Mar 17, 2025 | $0.24 | Mar 31, 2025 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | $0.24 | Dec 31, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 49,283,218
- Days to cover
- 6.89
- Change vs previous report
- +5.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.