Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: As a long-time Inner Circle member, I have enjoyed and benefitted from your precise opinion and ideas on all financial matters over the years. Many thanks. As I am now contemplating selling Western Union, because everybody seems to be facilitating money transfers, I wonder if you agree with me that this company’s future is now limited.

Article Excerpt

A: Western Union Co., $19.62, symbol WU on New York (Shares outstanding: 464.0 million; Market cap: $9.0 billion; www.westernunion.com), offers global money transfer services through more than 510,000 agent locations in over 200 countries. Western Union gets about 80% its revenue from the fees it charges its retail customers to transfer money around the world. Business customers receiving more complex services, including currency management, hedging and bill payments, contribute the balance of the revenue. Over the five years from 2012 to 2016, the company’s revenue declined from $5.7 billion to $5.4 billion. Earnings dropped from $1.1 billion, or $1.74 a share, in 2012, to $824.2 million, or $1.66 a share, in 2016. Those declines came mostly from increased competition that has put pressure on fees and a rising U.S. dollar that has hurt the contribution of Western Union’s international operations. In the most recent quarter ended September 30, 2017, revenue rose to $1.40 billion, up 2.0% from $1.38 billion, a year earlier. Earnings…