WEX vs Western Union
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The short version
- Western Union is the larger business, with $4.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.7B for WEX, about 1.5 times as much.
- WEX grew revenue faster (1.2%, against −3.8%).
- WEX kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (25.0% operating margin, against 18.7%).
- Western Union turned more of its sales into free cash flow (12.5% FCF margin, against 11.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of WEX’s earnings: a P/E of 19.7x against 5.2x for Western Union.
| Latest fiscal year | WEX · FY25 | WU · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $6.9B | $2.0B |
| Revenue | $2.7B | $4.1B |
| Free cash flow | $314M | $505M |
| Net income | $304M | $500M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 1.2% | −3.8% |
| 5-year growth | 11.3% | −3.5% |
| Share count change | −13.1% | −4.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 58.6% | 37.0% |
| Operating margin | 25.0% | 18.7% |
| Net margin | 11.4% | 12.3% |
| FCF margin | 11.8% | 12.5% |
| Return on capital | — | 24.0% |
| Return on equity | 22.3% | 51.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$326M | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.3x | 1.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $800M | $544M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 19.7x | 5.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | — |
Revenue
FY16
WEX $1.0B
WU $5.4B
FY17
WEX $1.2B
WU $5.5B
FY18
WEX $1.5B
WU $5.6B
FY19
WEX $1.7B
WU $5.3B
FY20
WEX $1.6B
WU $4.8B
FY21
WEX $1.9B
WU $5.1B
FY22
WEX $2.4B
WU $4.5B
FY23
WEX $2.5B
WU $4.4B
FY24
WEX $2.6B
WU $4.2B
FY25
WEX $2.7B
WU $4.1B
WEX
WU
Operating margin
FY16
WEX 15.7%
WU 9.0%
FY17
WEX 18.7%
WU 8.6%
FY18
WEX 25.5%
WU 20.1%
FY19
WEX 22.4%
WU 17.7%
FY20
WEX −5.9%
WU 20.0%
FY21
WEX 18.5%
WU 22.2%
FY22
WEX 20.0%
WU 19.8%
FY23
WEX 25.4%
WU 18.8%
FY24
WEX 26.1%
WU 17.2%
FY25
WEX 25.0%
WU 18.7%
WEX
WU
Free cash flow
FY16
WEX −$203M
WU $973M
FY17
WEX $56.2M
WU $673M
FY18
WEX $313M
WU $685M
FY19
WEX $560M
WU $867M
FY20
WEX $656M
WU $841M
FY21
WEX −$129M
WU $1.0B
FY22
WEX $567M
WU $550M
FY23
WEX $764M
WU $760M
FY24
WEX $334M
WU $369M
FY25
WEX $314M
WU $505M
WEX
WU
Return on capital
FY16
WEX —
WU 11.8%
FY17
WEX —
WU 10.5%
FY18
WEX 8.3%
WU 50.0%
FY19
WEX 7.7%
WU 38.5%
FY20
WEX −1.8%
WU 47.2%
FY21
WEX 6.3%
WU 48.6%
FY22
WEX 11.5%
WU 40.3%
FY23
WEX 24.3%
WU 39.0%
FY24
WEX 30.8%
WU 35.0%
FY25
WEX —
WU 24.0%
WEX
WU
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.