WESTERN UNION CO. $21 (New York symbol WU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 632.3 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.westernunion.com) provides money-transfer and foreign-exchange services in over 200 countries.
The company earned $210.2 million in the three months ended March 31, 2011, up 1.1% from $207.9 million a year earlier. Western Union spent $525.2 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 6.7%, to $0.32 from $0.30. Excluding costs related to the company’s restructuring, which mainly consisted of layoffs, it earned $0.35 in the latest quarter.
Revenue rose 4.1%, to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion. Growth was strong in the Asia Pacific region, the Americas and much of Europe.
The company recently bought the 70% of Ireland-based Angelo Costa that it didn’t already own for $136 million. Angelo Costa is one of Europe’s leading money-transfer firms. Owning all of this business will make it easier for Western Union to introduce new products and services in Europe, and make Angelo Costa more efficient.
Western Union trades at 13.8 times the $1.52 a share that it will probably earn in 2011.
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