Euronet's Ria Expands Reach With PLS Partnership in the United States

Euronet Worldwide, Inc.'s EEFT Ria Money Transfer ("RIA") inked a deal with a leading community financial services retailer, PLS Financial Services, headquartered in Chicago. Under this new collaboration, RIA will be the exclusive money transfer service provider for more than 200 PLS Check Cashers in the United States.

This move bodes well for EEFT as this partnership opens a new channel for Ria to expand money transfer services, which include real-time account deposits to 4.1 billion bank accounts and access to more than 2 billion mobile wallets globally. With nearly 600,000 cash pickup locations in 198 countries, Ria's network promises unparalleled convenience and accessibility to PLS's diverse customer base.

This is a time opportune move as demand for economic and competitive money transfer services is on the rise. Per The World Bank, the remittance market is expected to grow 2.3% in 2024. EEFT currently owns a 7% market share and expects this to grow in due time as the company enters new markets through partnerships, enhancing the usability of its networks and competing for a larger number of customers.

The Money Transfer segment is the largest segment in EEFT's revenues. The company's revenues grew 7% year over year in the second quarter of 2024. Growth in this segment will drive the overall performance of EEFT in the future. Moves like these will aid the company in achieving its earnings growth target of 10-15% year over year in 2024. This move also highlights the success of RIA, which expanded from a cross-border payments service to family members in countries of Latin America at the time of acquisition to a global network at present.

Shares of Euronet have gained 22.6% in the past year compared with the industry's 21.8% growth. EEFT currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the Finance space are Commerce Bancshares, Inc. CBSH, Amalgamated Financial Corp. AMAL and Esquire Financial Holdings, Inc. ESQ. Commerce Bancshares sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Amalgamated Financial and Esquire Financial currently carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Commerce Bancshares' earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CBSH's 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 8.8%, while the consensus estimate for revenues implies growth of 4.3% from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. The consensus mark for CBSH's earnings has moved 1.5% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of Amalgamated Financial beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 7.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMAL's 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 11.9%, while the consensus estimate for revenues implies growth of 7% from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. The consensus mark for AMAL's earnings has moved 6.1% north in the past 30 days.

Esquire Financial's earnings outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 1.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ESQ's 2024 earnings indicates an improvement of 12.5%, while the consensus estimate for revenues implies growth of 9.1% from the corresponding year-ago reported figures. The consensus mark for ESQ's earnings has moved 3.4% north in the past 60 days.

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.