West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
West Pharmaceutical Services' operational reacceleration is undeniable — H1 2026 revenue grew 21.0% and 13.8% YoY in Q1 and Q2 respectively, with eight consecutive EPS beats including a 13.9% surprise in the latest quarter — but the stock at $388.78 trades at 49.4x trailing earnings, a 98.9% premium to the peer median of 24.8x, pricing in perfection ahead of the October 29 Q3 print.
FY2025 operating margin of 20.1% and gross margin of 35.9% remain well below FY2021 levels of 26.8% and 41.5% respectively, and with RSI at 68.5 and zero open-market insider purchases over 24 months, the risk/reward is balanced for a high-quality franchise whose valuation leaves little room for disappointment.
What could go wrong
- Valuation compression. At 49.4x PE versus a peer median of 24.8x, any earnings miss or guidance cut at the October 29 Q3 print could trigger a sharp de-rating given the stock's 36.1% YTD rally and RSI of 68.5.
- Margin recovery stalls. FY2025 gross margin of 35.9% and operating margin of 20.1% remain far below FY2021 peaks of 41.5% and 26.8%; if Annex 1 and GLP-1 mix shifts fail to drive further margin expansion, the premium multiple is unsupported.
- Insider selling persists. Over 24 months there have been zero open-market acquisitions and net dispositions of 13,785 shares worth $4.7M, with the most recent activity being option exercises and same-day sales at $365 per share.
- Smart money apathy. The smart money score as of 30 Jun is -0.00, essentially neutral and down from 0.04 in Q1 2025, suggesting institutional positioning is not building conviction despite the price rally.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: quarterly results · earnings vs estimates · peer comparison · fundamentals. Orin's read on WST; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 38.7% over twelve months, from $287.22 on 27 Oct 2025 to $398.29 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. That is its highest close in that time.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 2.7M, on 23 Apr 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All WST filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $2.4B | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $1.7B | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $1.4B | 0.1% |
| FMR | $1.3B | 0.1% |
| State Street | $1.2B | 0.0% |
| Bank of New York Mellon | $733.7M | 0.1% |
| Geode Capital Management | $680.6M | 0.0% |
| Morgan Stanley | $568.1M | 0.0% |
| JPMorgan Chase | $413.0M | 0.0% |
| Brown Advisory | $386.0M | 0.6% |
91 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 118 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$4.7M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 6 sales — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about WST
Orin answers questions about WST from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 50.6× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close) — higher than in 4 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 44.1×); the typical Healthcare company on the NYSE is at 25.8×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 50.6×above usual | 44.1× | 25.8× |
| P/S | 8.43×near usual | 8.27× | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 32.1×above usual | 30.3× | — |
| P/B | 9.4×above usual | 8.9× | — |
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $420 (from $390 to $447) — 5% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$420
$390 – $447 · +5% against the last close
- 8 buy or overweight
- 0 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 50.6× its last 12 months of profit; the middle P/E of the 7 companies it is compared to that made a profit is 26.9×.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WSTWest Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. | $28B | 50.6× | 32.1× | 36.8% | 17.0% | 19% |
| COOThe Cooper Companies, Inc. | $11B | 20.4× | 15.1× | 63.6% | 13.5% | 7% |
| DGXQuest Diagnostics Incorporated | $27B | 23.8× | 14.0× | 33.1% | 9.5% | 15% |
| INCYIncyte Corporation | $24B | 14.3× | 9.5× | 92.6% | 27.7% | 30% |
| LHLabcorp Holdings Inc. | $27B | 27.2× | 15.6× | 27.8% | 7.0% | 12% |
| STESTERIS plc | $25B | 30.1× | 17.0× | 44.6% | 13.4% | 11% |
| WATWaters Corporation | $46B | 117× | 53.3× | 50.8% | 3.6% | 2% |
| ZBHZimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. | $20B | 26.9× | 12.0× | 69.7% | 9.0% | 6% |
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 50.6× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now50.6×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Healthcare companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 25.8× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now25.8×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A standard cash-flow model puts it at $90 a share — 77% below the $397.18 price it was computed against (27 Oct).
| Model | Value a share | Against the price then |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $90 | 77% below $397.18 |
| Levered | $93 | 77% below $397.18 |
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.
Standard / levered: two versions of the cash-flow model: the standard one counts the cash before the company pays its lenders, the levered one after.