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Western Union (WU) Competitors

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$8.28 -0.07 (-0.78%)
As of 12:41 PM Eastern
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WU vs. PYPL, G, EXLS, WEX, EEFT, MMS, 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), Euronet Worldwide (EEFT), Maximus (MMS), 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 stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

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 company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of PayPal shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Western Union$4.14B0.66$934.20M$2.683.09
PayPal$31.80B2.25$4.15B$4.4716.48

Western Union currently has a consensus price target of $10.78, suggesting a potential upside of 30.09%. PayPal has a consensus price target of $83.42, suggesting a potential upside of 13.22%. Given Western Union's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Western Union is more favorable than PayPal.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Western Union
4 Sell rating(s)
7 Hold rating(s)
0 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
1.64
PayPal
3 Sell rating(s)
15 Hold rating(s)
18 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.46

Western Union has a net margin of 22.08% compared to PayPal's net margin of 14.26%. Western Union's return on equity of 77.19% beat PayPal's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Western Union22.08% 77.19% 7.16%
PayPal 14.26%24.59%6.06%

In the previous week, PayPal had 36 more articles in the media than Western Union. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for PayPal and 10 mentions for Western Union. PayPal's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Western Union's score of 0.96 indicating that PayPal is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Western Union
5 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
5 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
PayPal
28 Very Positive mention(s)
3 Positive mention(s)
9 Neutral mention(s)
3 Negative mention(s)
2 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Western Union has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PayPal has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

PayPal beats Western Union on 11 of the 17 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.
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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.
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WU vs. The Competition

MetricWestern UnionFinancial Transaction Services IndustryBusiness SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$2.74B$33.36B$15.36B$20.64B
Dividend Yield10.94%2.42%2.71%3.71%
P/E Ratio3.0928.0228.7827.82
Price / Sales0.669.9045.2255.14
Price / Cash3.6418.9925.7017.94
Price / Book2.897.376.254.59
Net Income$934.20M$1.11B$191.09M$989.58M
7 Day Performance-2.87%-2.47%1.40%0.98%
1 Month Performance-4.18%3.13%7.41%5.30%
1 Year Performance-34.04%37.21%22.21%10.40%

Western Union Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
WU
Western Union
4.9518 of 5 stars
$8.29
-0.8%
$10.78
+30.1%
-33.5%$2.74B$4.14B3.099,100
PYPL
PayPal
4.8072 of 5 stars
$76.18
-0.5%
$83.42
+9.5%
+18.4%$74.09B$31.80B17.0424,400Positive News
G
Genpact
3.9509 of 5 stars
$46.07
+0.3%
$50.14
+8.8%
+36.5%$8.06B$4.77B15.72140,000Dividend Announcement
EXLS
ExlService
4.74 of 5 stars
$45.19
-0.2%
$51.50
+14.0%
+27.8%$7.35B$1.84B34.2359,500Positive News
High Trading Volume
WEX
WEX
4.4561 of 5 stars
$149.51
-1.1%
$176.90
+18.3%
-17.7%$5.12B$2.63B19.276,500
EEFT
Euronet Worldwide
4.233 of 5 stars
$106.00
-0.5%
$126.86
+19.7%
-0.5%$4.58B$4.05B15.7010,600Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
MMS
Maximus
3.6349 of 5 stars
$71.29
-1.1%
$90.00
+26.2%
-18.4%$4.02B$5.31B14.1741,100Dividend Announcement
PAY
Paymentus
3.488 of 5 stars
$30.86
-0.6%
$36.80
+19.2%
+45.7%$3.86B$871.74M79.131,307High Trading Volume
CSGS
CSG Systems International
3.7152 of 5 stars
$65.60
-0.7%
$70.71
+7.8%
+46.5%$1.90B$1.20B22.395,800
INOD
Innodata
1.5964 of 5 stars
$50.99
+1.7%
$55.00
+7.9%
+193.9%$1.62B$170.46M49.036,648Positive News
EVRI
Everi
0.8957 of 5 stars
$14.24
flat
$12.83
-9.9%
N/A$1.24B$757.90M89.011,550

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This page (NYSE:WU) was last updated on 7/14/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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