Western Union Soars On Q2 Beat

By Teresa Rivas

Western Union (WU) jumped nearly 10% after its better-than-expected second-quarter earnings report.

The money-transfer firm said that it earned $198.6 million, or 36 cents a share, down 44 cents a share a year earlier.

Revenue dropped 2.8% to $1.39 billion.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 34 cents per share on revenue of $1.37 billion.

Operating margin fell to 20% from 24.3%.

However, investors seemed to be mollified that the company is taking steps to regain market share amid an environment of increasing competition as well as investing in the expansion of digital and mobile applications.

The company?s largest consumer-to-consumer business saw transactions rise 3%, despite a 4% fall in revenue as he company has cut prices to win back customers from rivals and boost volumes.

Consumer-to-business sales increased 2%, and business-solutions revenue rose 6%.

Western Union is still in the red for the past year, down about 2%. However, it?s gained 29% since the start of 2013 and the stock edging toward its September 2012 52-week high of $19.14.

Rival MoneyGram (MGI) has been on a tear recently as it has put itself up for sale.

Source: http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2013/07/30/western-union-soars-on-q2-beat/?mod=BOLBlog

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