On Jan 11, shares of Western Union Co. WU touched a 52-week low of $16.66 per share. In just six trading sessions of 2016, the stock lost 6% of its share value.



Investors seems to have been disappointed by the company’s results for the first nine months of 2015 that showed a 2% decline in the top line led by a 4% decline in transaction fees.



Its unit Consumer to Consumer, which accounts for nearly 80% of the company’s revenues, reported a 3.2% decline for the first nine months of 2015. Another unit Business Solutions also disappointed with a 2% revenue decline in the same time frame.



Investors also seem concerned about a 4% decline in operating income in the first nine months of 2015.



However, investors are not just worried about the past performance of Western Union. The headwinds facing by the company in 2016 must have also dragged down the share price. Lower benefit from foreign exchange hedges, increased agent commissions, a higher tax rate and unfavorable geographic trends are likely to result in EBITDA and EPS contraction in 2016



Moreover, Western Union’s investors continue to be bothered by growing threats from digital channels of money transfer. Despite its wide agent network and market dominance in the money transfer industry, the company, which derives a huge chunk of business from physical money transfer, is threatened by the proliferating use of electronic cash remittance which includes use of mobile and the Internet.



The company may also face stiff competition from the recently completed acquisition of Xoom by PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL. The alliance of Xoom, one of the pioneers in digital money transfer business with PayPal, which makes the most of its revenues from online purchases, will create a big player in the digital payment space, where Western Union is still developing.



Western Union currently carries a Zacks Rank # 3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the space are Global Payments Inc. GPN and On Deck Capital, Inc. ONDK, each with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



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