Reviewing CURRENC Group (NASDAQ:CURR) & Western Union (NYSE:WU)

Western Union (NYSE:WU) and CURRENC Group (NASDAQ:CURR) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

Western Union has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CURRENC Group has a beta of -0.33, indicating that its share price is 133% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Western Union and CURRENC Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Western Union	3	7	0	0	1.70
CURRENC Group	0	0	1	1	3.50

Western Union currently has a consensus price target of $12.11, suggesting a potential upside of 15.61%. CURRENC Group has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 139.73%. Given CURRENC Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe CURRENC Group is more favorable than Western Union.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Western Union and CURRENC Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Western Union	$4.21 billion	0.84	$934.20 million	$2.73	3.84
CURRENC Group	$48.72 million	1.39	N/A	N/A	N/A

Western Union has higher revenue and earnings than CURRENC Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.8% of Western Union shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.0% of CURRENC Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Western Union shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.8% of CURRENC Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Western Union and CURRENC Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Western Union	22.19%	96.90%	7.43%
CURRENC Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

About Western Union

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates through Consumer Money Transfer and Consumer Services segments. The Consumer Money Transfer segment facilitates money transfers for international cross-border and intra-country transfers, primarily through a network of retail agent locations, as well as through websites and mobile devices. The Consumer Services segments offers bill payment services, which facilitate payments for consumers, businesses, and other organizations, as well as money order services, retail foreign exchange services, prepaid cards, lending partnerships, and digital wallets. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About CURRENC Group

Currenc Group, Inc. engages in operating a fintech banking platform. It operates through the following segments: Remittance Services, Sales of Airtime, and Other Services. The company is headquartered in Singapore.