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West Pharmaceutical Services

WST
59
Medical - Instruments & Supplies · Healthcare
Price
$358.48
-3.96 (-1.09%)
Market Cap
$25.33B
Winston Score
59
Winston is curious
A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.

Share count falling — buybacks

4.7% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 76.3M (2021) → 72.7M (2025)

West Pharmaceutical Services makes the small but critical components used to seal and deliver injectable drugs. Their main products are rubber stoppers, plastic caps, and drug delivery devices — the parts that go on top of vials, syringes, and cartridges. Nearly every major pharmaceutical and biotech company in the world uses West's components to package their medicines safely.

West earns revenue by selling these components and systems directly to drug manufacturers on a recurring basis, since every vial produced requires new parts. The company operates globally, with manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia, and generates roughly $3 billion in annual revenue. Its moat comes from strict regulatory requirements in the drug industry — once a drug is approved using West's specific components, switching to a competitor requires expensive re-testing and re-approval. The key risk is that a slowdown in injectable drug production, particularly biologics and vaccines, would directly reduce demand for West's products.

Winston Score History

Politician Trades

6 trades / 12mo

2 Congressional buys and 4 sells on WST in the last 12 months.

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Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+21.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+55.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$74M/ year

Rising (+8% vs prior year)

2.4% of revenue

Below sector average (18%)

R&D investment increasing — building for the future

Insider Activity

0.7%ownership

Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$521M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

→ Burn rate stable

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth + cash flow

West Pharmaceutical Services is a rare growth stock that's already generating positive cash flow while growing at 21%. The Winston Score doesn't fully credit this transition from "burner" to "earner."

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Gross Margin
35.1%
Modest — 35.1% gross margin
Operating Margin
21.0%
Excellent — 21.0% operating margin
ROCE
5.4%
Weak — 5.4% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales YoY
+11.2%
Steady sales growth (11.2% YoY)
EPS YoY
+17.1%
Earnings growing fast (17.1% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

EPS Consistency
8/8 quarters
Every recent quarter grew earnings vs last year

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
132%
Turns 132% of profit into real cash
FCF Margin
14.2%
Converts sales into free cash efficiently (14.2%)

FCF margin between 10% and 20%. Every $100 in sales becomes $10 to $20 in real cash.

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Stability

Debt / Equity
0.11
Conservative — low debt load (0.11)
Interest Cover
3328.00x
Comfortably covers interest (3328.0x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
47.7x
Expensive — P/E 47.7

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

P/E vs Forward
+17.3
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (47.7 → 30.3)

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Dividends

Dividend Yield
0.26%
Small dividend — 0.26% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend Growth
+4.8%
Dividend growing modestly (4.8% YoY)

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