WU vs. PYPL, G, EXLS, WEX, MMS, EEFT, PAY, CSGS, INOD, and EVRI
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), Euronet Worldwide (EEFT), Paymentus (PAY), CSG Systems International (CSGS), Innodata (INOD), and Everi (EVRI).
Western Union vs. Its Competitors
Western Union (NYSE:WU) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.
Western Union has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PayPal has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.
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.
In the previous week, PayPal had 27 more articles in the media than Western Union. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for PayPal and 29 mentions for Western Union. PayPal's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Western Union's score of 0.42 indicating that PayPal is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Western Union presently has a consensus target price of $8.61, suggesting a potential upside of 2.88%. PayPal has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.78%. Given PayPal's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe PayPal is more favorable than Western Union.
91.8% of Western Union shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.3% of PayPal shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Western Union shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of PayPal shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
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.
Summary
PayPal beats Western Union on 11 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 8/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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