Western Union
Western Union's revenue fell 3.8% to $4.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 18.7%, up from 17.2% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $505 million, up 37.0%. It paid out $544 million in dividends and buybacks, 108% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 4.0%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What Western Union does
Western Union moves money across borders and currencies for consumers, businesses and others. Customers send money through its agent locations in more than 200 countries and territories, at stores it operates, and on Western Union websites and mobile apps, including those of digital partners. It also sells bill payment, money order, travel money, check acceptance and prepaid card services, and is rolling out a digital wallet in some countries.
The company has two segments. Consumer Money Transfer, which is sending money from one consumer to another, is the core of the business. It made up 87% of 2025 revenue, and most of those transfers were across borders. Consumer Services made up 13%. Western Union's revenue comes mainly from the fees customers pay to transfer money, and the amount varies by transaction.
In August 2025 the company agreed to buy International Money Express (Intermex), a money transfer provider focused on the U.S. to Latin America and Caribbean routes, for about $500 million in cash, and expects the deal to close in the second quarter of 2026. In late 2025 it announced a strategy called "Beyond" and plans for a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, a digital token pegged to the dollar, to be issued by Anchorage Digital Bank.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- A drop in customer confidence in Western Union or in money transfer services generally.
- Rules and regulatory changes that could cut its fees, profit margins or foreign exchange spreads.
- Legal limits, political and economic instability and weak infrastructure in some countries where it operates.
- Credit, liquidity and fraud risks from its agents, customers, businesses and payment processors.
- Being able to adopt new technology and win acceptance for new products as customer needs and rules change.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share grew 12.9% a year and net income 7.8% a year, as buybacks cut the share count by 34%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value Western Union yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Western Union's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Western Union's fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $505M, net cash of −$1.6B at December 31, 2025 and 328 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Western Union: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, -3.3% a year, kept between 0% and 20%; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 11%: 9% for a business of moderate risk (Transaction & Payment Processing Services), plus 1 point as a smaller company, worth $1.9B, plus 1 point for unsteady results (revenue fell in two of the last five years); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $6.21
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Careful. Western Union's P/E today, 5.1×, is less than half the example multiple. A gap that wide usually means one of two things: its latest earnings include large one-off items, such as a tax benefit or a gain on a sale, or investors expect its earnings to fall. Either way the examples can mislead, so they aren't set against the share price. Check the earnings in its latest filings before using them.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Western Union's earnings per share of $1.22 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 12.6×, the middle of Western Union's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (its peers' median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 12%, 11% and 10%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $6.21
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- Western Union's P/E at the last close
- 5.1×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| CorpayCPAY | $399.72 | $16.43 | 24.3× |
| AffirmAFRM | $69.49 | $5.53 | 12.6× |
| Euronet WorldwideEEFT | $63.95 | $6.29 | 10.2× |
| Western UnionWU | $6.21 | $1.22 | 5.1× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 1,208 | 1,286 | 1,269 | 1,474 | 1,234 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 3,008 | 2,617 | 2,505 | 2,941 | 2,878 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 1,800 | 1,331 | 1,236 | 1,467 | 1,643 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 1.4x | 1.2x | 1.2x | 1.6x | 1.8x |
| Debt to equity | — | 5.5x | 5.2x | 3.0x | 3.0x |
| Interest coverage | 10.7x | 8.8x | 7.8x | 6.1x | 5.3x |
| Current ratio | — | — | — | — | — |
| Quick ratio | — | — | — | — | — |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, 1 insider bought $89,500 of Western Union shares on the open market, and 2 insiders sold $240,863.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 2026 | Benjamin Carlton AdamsChief Legal Officer | Sold | 19,924 | $9.23 | $183,983 | Form 4 |
| Apr 28, 2026 | Giovanni AngeliniPresident Europe, Africa, Mepa | Sold | 6,000 | $9.48 | $56,880 | Form 4 |
| Nov 10, 2025 | Giovanni AngeliniPresident Europe, Africa, Mepa | Bought | 10,000 | $8.95 | $89,500 | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | — | — | — |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Gross margin rose | Fail | Fail | Fail |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| F-score | — | — | — |
| Accruals ratio | −1.9% | 6.4% | −0.5% |
Compare
Put Western Union side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Union | FY25 | −3.8% | 18.7% | 12.5% | 24.0% | 1.8x | — | |
| Shift4 | FY25 | 25.5% | 8.4% | 14.9% | 6.5% | 4.6x | 6 | Compare |
| Euronet Worldwide | FY25 | 6.4% | 12.5% | 10.2% | 29.9% | 0.1x | 7 | Compare |
| Affirm | FY26 | 32.1% | 9.8% | 23.3% | — | — | — | Compare |
| Corpay | FY25 | 13.9% | 44.0% | 28.7% | 11.5% | 3.8x | 5 | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 5,423 | 5,524 | 5,590 | 5,292 | 4,835 | 5,071 | 4,476 | 4,357 | 4,210 | 4,051 |
| Revenue growth | −1.1% | 1.9% | 1.2% | −5.3% | −8.6% | 4.9% | −11.7% | −2.6% | −3.4% | −3.8% |
| Gross profit | 2,156 | 2,171 | 2,289 | 2,206 | 2,008 | 2,174 | 1,849 | 1,685 | 1,589 | 1,500 |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | 487 | 476 | 1,122 | 934 | 967 | 1,123 | 885 | 818 | 726 | 757 |
| Net income | 253 | −557 | 852 | 1,058 | 744 | 806 | 911 | 626 | 934 | 500 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 0.51 | −1.19 | 1.87 | 2.46 | 1.79 | 1.97 | 2.34 | 1.68 | 2.74 | 1.52 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 494 | 468 | 454 | 431 | 415 | 409 | 388 | 372 | 341 | 328 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 1,042 | 742 | 821 | 915 | 878 | 1,045 | 582 | 783 | 406 | 544 |
| Capital expenditure | 69 | 69 | 137 | 48 | 36 | 38 | 32 | 23 | 37 | 38 |
| Free cash flow | 973 | 673 | 685 | 866 | 841 | 1,008 | 550 | 760 | 369 | 505 |
| Dividends paid | 312 | 326 | 342 | 341 | 370 | 382 | 364 | 349 | 322 | 309 |
| Share buybacks | 502 | 503 | 412 | 553 | 240 | 410 | 370 | 308 | 186 | 235 |
| Acquisitions | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stock-based compensation | 42 | 44 | 48 | 49 | 42 | 44 | 46 | 36 | 39 | 47 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 878 | 838 | 973 | 1,450 | 1,428 | 1,208 | 1,286 | 1,269 | 1,474 | 1,234 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 2,786 | 3,034 | 3,434 | 3,229 | 3,067 | 3,008 | 2,617 | 2,505 | 2,941 | 2,878 |
| Total assets | 9,420 | 9,231 | 8,997 | 8,758 | 9,496 | 8,824 | 8,496 | 8,199 | 8,370 | 8,306 |
| Total liabilities | 8,517 | 9,723 | 9,307 | 8,798 | 9,310 | 8,468 | 8,018 | 7,720 | 7,402 | 7,348 |
| Shareholders' equity | 902 | −491 | −310 | −40 | 187 | 356 | 478 | 479 | 969 | 958 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 39.8% | 39.3% | 41.0% | 41.7% | 41.5% | 42.9% | 41.3% | 38.7% | 37.8% | 37.0% |
| Operating margin | 9.0% | 8.6% | 20.1% | 17.6% | 20.0% | 22.1% | 19.8% | 18.8% | 17.2% | 18.7% |
| Net margin | 4.7% | −10.1% | 15.2% | 20.0% | 15.4% | 15.9% | 20.4% | 14.4% | 22.2% | 12.3% |
| Free cash flow margin | 17.9% | 12.2% | 12.2% | 16.4% | 17.4% | 19.9% | 12.3% | 17.4% | 8.8% | 12.5% |
| Return on capital | 11.8% | 10.5% | 50.0% | 38.5% | 47.2% | 48.6% | 40.3% | 39.0% | 35.0% | 24.0% |
| Return on equity | 21.9% | — | — | — | — | — | — | 130.8% | 129.0% | 51.9% |
| Return on assets | 2.7% | −6.0% | 9.3% | 11.9% | 8.2% | 8.8% | 10.5% | 7.5% | 11.3% | 6.0% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.5x | 3.0x | 1.8x | 1.5x | 1.4x | 1.4x | 1.2x | 1.2x | 1.6x | 1.8x |