Western Union Earnings: Mixed Quarter, but Modest Improvement Overall

Western Union’s fourth-quarter results were somewhat mixed, in our view. On the positive side, the company did see sequential improvement in underlying growth. However, the core money transfer segment largely held steady, and the sequential overall improvement was fairly slight. Given our modest long-term expectations, we remain comfortable with our projections and will maintain our $17 fair value estimate for the narrow-moat company. We see shares as undervalued from a long-term perspective but believe the company may need to show better momentum to drive the market price in line with our valuation.