The Western Union Company's 2Q Results: Postgame Scorecard

The Western Union Company (WU) announced its results for the most recent quarter on July 24, 2012.

Earnings and Revenue The company managed to beat EPS estimates, though the company's revenues failed to top expectations. The company reported EPS of 44 cents a share versus the 43 cents a share estimate and revenues of $1.4251 versus the $1.45 billion estimate. The estimates of 25 analysts ranged from profit of 40 cents to profit of 47 cents.

For the second quarter, the company reported profit of $271.2 million. This is 3% higher than the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell 100% from $1.37 billion in the same period last year.

Company Fundamental Trends Last quarter marked the third in a row of rising net income. Slumping revenue in the last quarter ends The company's streak of at least four consecutive quarters of revenue increases.

History Against Expectations The company topped estimates last quarter after falling in line with expectations in the first quarter. It reported net income of 40 cents per share.

Official Comment: Western Union President and Chief Executive Officer Hikmet Ersek commented, "Overall we are on track for our full year financial outlook. In the quarter, our core consumer money transfer business, which represents over 80% of Company revenue, delivered solid 3% constant currency growth with consistent margins. The Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America regions and on-line money transfer performed well, more than offsetting the impact of consumer slowdowns in Southern Europe and some expected softness in certain countries. The global diversification of our portfolio and resiliency of our consumers continue to drive revenue growth and strong cash flow, even in a challenging economic environment." Ersek continued, "We continue to invest for the future to support our strategic growth areas of Global Consumer Financial Services, Business Solutions, and Ventures. We are further expanding our consumer network, and now have 510,000 agent locations across the world. Business Solutions global expansion is on track and new customer acquisition is strong. In Ventures, our westernunion.com on-line money transfer service continues to deliver strong growth while we develop new capabilities, and our prepaid business will soon benefit from a significant increase in distribution points in the U.S." Ersek added, "The long-term opportunities are strong, and we believe in our growth strategies for the future. Our business continues to generate significant free cash flow, and we have returned over $430 million to shareholders through the combination of share repurchase and dividends in the first half of the year. We remain committed to strong cash deployment for our shareholders."

Estimates provided by Zacks Investment Research and company fundamentals from Xignite Financials.