Western Union - WU Competitors

Maximus (NYSE:MMS) and Western Union (NYSE:WU) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation, profitability, community ranking, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Which has more risk and volatility, MMS or WU?

Maximus has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Union has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend MMS or WU?

Maximus currently has a consensus target price of $100.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.68%. Western Union has a consensus target price of $14.23, indicating a potential upside of 28.11%. Given Maximus' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Maximus is more favorable than Western Union.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maximus	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Western Union	7 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.46

Is MMS or WU a better dividend stock?

Maximus pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Western Union pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.5%. Maximus pays out 36.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Western Union pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Is MMS or WU more profitable?

Western Union has a net margin of 20.35% compared to Maximus' net margin of 4.03%. Western Union's return on equity of 151.54% beat Maximus' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maximus	4.03%	16.64%	6.30%
Western Union	20.35%	151.54%	7.90%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MMS or WU?

Western Union received 160 more outperform votes than Maximus when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.36% of users gave Maximus an outperform vote while only 55.01% of users gave Western Union an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Maximus	Outperform Votes 438 66.36%	Underperform Votes 222 33.64%
Western Union	Outperform Votes 598 55.01%	Underperform Votes 489 44.99%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in MMS or WU?

97.4% of Maximus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.7% of Western Union shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Maximus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Western Union shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor MMS or WU?

In the previous week, Western Union had 10 more articles in the media than Maximus. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Western Union and 3 mentions for Maximus. Western Union's average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Maximus' score of 0.48 indicating that Western Union is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Maximus	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Western Union	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, MMS or WU?

Western Union has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Maximus. Western Union is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Maximus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maximus	$4.63 billion	1.02	$203.83 million	$3.09	25.15
Western Union	$4.48 billion	0.93	$910.60 million	$2.34	4.75

Summary

Western Union beats Maximus on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.