E_K_S: JPM is a buy at current price also, imo.
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Western Union: Hard for me to call this one a buy on a value thread. Psr is 3.15; p/bk is 3.56. Compared to previous years, that's a low p/bk number and a relatively low psr number- but still, those are high numbers on an absolute basis for a traditional value investor (Imo).
If one wanted a position in the transaction processing business, Western Union's parent is near an annual low. As you have suggested, perhaps that's due to the competition that's supposed to come in and kill the juicy profit margins that the business keeps showing. Depending on one's view, now - at the current low price - is an okay time to buy, or else maybe one should wait because the stock's really done nothing in the past couple or more years, and there's no evidence that the stock's going anywhere soon. Plus it looks like the stock may drift down. Consumer spending reductions, should they occur,may decrease the number of transactions perhaps?
I like the transaction processing business because I like the idea of the company getting a teensie-weensie li'l bit ($) from every transaction they process (and they processed 25 billion in fiscal '03).
I still hold shares from a 10/16/03 purchase (@37.50). I sold some in '04, but if the stock (now $38.90) should drop below my purchase price on no adverse news, I'll up my position.
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Fwiw, I also hold FNDT (ref. my post 15930). Metrics don't look too bad. I see no compelling reason though for a value investor to buy it at this point. Perhaps also, it's too small and too niche a player to be of interest to you.
All jmo, and I've been wrong many, many times. |
