WU vs. PYPL, G, EXLS, WEX, MMS, PAY, EEFT, CSGS, INOD, and CASS
Should you be buying Western Union stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Union include PayPal (PYPL), Genpact (G), ExlService (EXLS), WEX (WEX), Maximus (MMS), Paymentus (PAY), Euronet Worldwide (EEFT), CSG Systems International (CSGS), Innodata (INOD), and Cass Information Systems (CASS).
Western Union vs. Its Competitors
PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) and Western Union (NYSE:WU) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.
In the previous week, PayPal had 69 more articles in the media than Western Union. MarketBeat recorded 76 mentions for PayPal and 7 mentions for Western Union. Western Union's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat PayPal's score of 1.13 indicating that Western Union is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
PayPal has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its share price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Union has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Western Union has a net margin of 21.83% compared to PayPal's net margin of 14.49%. Western Union's return on equity of 66.11% beat PayPal's return on equity.
PayPal presently has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 24.37%. Western Union has a consensus target price of $8.61, suggesting a potential downside of 2.09%. Given PayPal's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe PayPal is more favorable than Western Union.
PayPal has higher revenue and earnings than Western Union. Western Union is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PayPal, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
68.3% of PayPal shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Western Union shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of PayPal shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Western Union shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
PayPal beats Western Union on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WU and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Western Union Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:WU) was last updated on 9/5/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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