West Pharmaceutical Services Inc (WST)
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West Pharmaceutical makes the rubber stoppers and seals without which hardly any injectable drug reaches the market — the weight-loss pens run on components from Exton, Pennsylvania, too. Our in-house stock scanner ranks the stock number 4 among dividend aristocrats (U.S. selection, as of July 18, 2026): the quarterly dividend has risen for 33 consecutive years. We read the annual reports (10-K), the quarterly report (10-Q) as of March 31, 2026, and the dividend announcements back to 2013: a payout ratio of just 13 percent, an unnamed customer worth 15.8 percent of revenue, key licenses expiring in 2027 — and a share price at 47 times earnings. Not investment advice — just the question of whether a noble title is an investment case.
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This stock currently matches 20 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
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Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralGeprüft am 18.07.2026 gegen den Geschäftsbericht (10-K) 2025 (eingereicht 17.02.2026), den 10-K 2024 (18.02.2025) und die vier jüngsten Quartalsberichte (10-Q, zuletzt zum 31.03.2026): In keinem der sechs ausgewerteten SEC-Filings von West Pharmaceutical findet sich auch nur eine Erwähnung von „artificial intelligence“, „machine learning“, „generative“, „LLM“ oder „AI“ — der Volltext-Scan (inklusive Schreibvarianten) liefert null Treffer. Das Geschäft (Elastomer-Stopfen, Dichtungen, Injektionssysteme für injizierbare Medikamente) wird in den Berichten ohne jeden KI-Bezug beschrieben; weder KI-Umsatzquelle noch operativer KI-Einsatz noch ein konkretes KI-Geschäftsrisiko fürs eigene Modell sind dokumentiert. Ergänzend gesichtet: Die Proxy-Erklärung (DEF 14A, 12.03.2026) erwähnt „artificial intelligence“ nur als Themenpunkt der überarbeiteten Verhaltenskodizes (Code of Conduct) — Governance-Boilerplate ohne Geschäftsmodell-Bezug, nach dem Kriterienkatalog kein Beleg. Dokumentierter Negativ-Befund → neutral.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-04-23 · 10-Q 2025-10-23 · 10-Q 2025-07-24 · 10-Q 2025-04-24 · 10-K 2026-02-17 · 10-K 2025-02-18
Rated on July 18, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 1.77 | -3.40 | 749 | 2.20 | 17.40 | 190 | 85 |
| 2025: Q1 | 1.23 | -20.70 | 698 | 0.40 | 12.90 | 129 | 58 |
| 2025: Q2 | 1.81 | 19.90 | 766 | 9.10 | 17.20 | 177 | 102 |
| 2025: Q3 | 1.93 | 3.90 | 804 | 7.70 | 17.40 | 197 | 134 |
| 2025: Q4 | 1.82 | 2.90 | 805 | 7.50 | 16.40 | 251 | 175 |
| 2026: Q1 | 1.92 | 55.80 | 845 | 21.00 | 16.40 | 90 | 47 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Consumables with a regulatory moat: elastomer components are baked into customers' drug approvals, and every supplier switch costs data and regulator visits — a tollbooth of injectable medicine with $3,074.1 million in 2025 revenue and a 16 percent net margin (annual report 10-K 2025).
33 consecutive increases (SEC-documented chain: 21st increase 2013, 28th increase 2020, $0.22 per quarter since Q4 2025) at only about 13 percent payout — the streak is exceptionally well covered; the roughly 0.3 percent yield, however, makes the stock no income play (data as of mid-July 2026).
$791.3 million in cash (12/31/2025), equity ratio around 73 percent, net interest paid $0.3 million; buybacks of $1.43 billion since early 2023, a new $1.0 billion program since February 2026, Q1 2026 purchases at ~$244 per share (10-K 2025, 10-Q 03/31/2026).
A strong comeback in Q1 2026 (+21.0 percent revenue, diluted EPS $1.92 after $1.23), driven by high-value components and GLP-1 self-injection systems — but only one quarter after two hangover years: 2025 net income ($493.7 million) still sat below 2023 ($593.4 million), and customer inventory cycles left their mark in 2024.
The largest (unnamed) customer jumped from 12.3 to 15.8 percent of revenue within a year ($485.9 million), the top ten account for 47.6 percent; at the same time the Daikyo licenses for FluroTec, B2 and Crystal Zenith expire in 2027, and the risk factors name oral GLP-1s as a concrete threat to the injection business (10-K 2025).
Roughly 47 times trailing earnings, 7.5 times revenue and a good 50 times free cash flow (data as of mid-July 2026) — the multiple of a structural growth stock, paid after a single quarter of renewed acceleration; the non-affiliate market value stood at $15.7 billion as recently as 06/30/2025 per the 10-K.
West Pharmaceutical is the rare case in which the noble title is accurate and can still mislead: 33 SEC-documented consecutive dividend increases, a fortress balance sheet and a tollbooth position in injectable medicine — but a yield around 0.3 percent, a share price at 47 times earnings, and a growth story that hangs on the weight-loss pen, one 15.8 percent customer and Daikyo licenses expiring in 2027. Whoever buys here is not buying a dividend stock but a richly priced quality-growth bet. Not investment advice.
- WST entered the research list as rank 4 of the in-house dividend-aristocrats scanner (U.S. selection, as of July 18, 2026); 19 further scanners flagged it at the same time — from quality growth and the Buffett criteria to momentum signals (Stage 2, Power Trend).
- The 33-year streak is reconstructed from SEC sources: 8-K press releases of 08/01/2013 (21st increase) and 10/28/2020 (28th increase) plus the gaplessly rising, split-adjusted XBRL dividend series 2011–2025 ($0.35 → $0.86). Scanner metrics (P/E, P/S, Piotroski, Altman-Z) use trailing twelve-month figures.
- Market-value figure (~$24 billion) from the feed as of mid-July 2026, sanity-checked against 72,021,491 shares outstanding per the annual report 10-K 2025 (as of 01/29/2026); analyses are evergreen, daily prices are not a buy argument.
About the Company
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. entwickelt, fertigt und verkauft Behälter- und Verabreichungssysteme für injizierbare Arzneimittel und Gesundheitsprodukte in Nord- und Südamerika, Europa, dem Nahen Osten, Afrika und dem asiatisch-pazifischen Raum.
| Employees | 10,800 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Exton, PA |
| Website | westpharma.com |
| IPO Date | 13. Jan 1978 |
| Next Earnings | 23. Jul 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Robert W. McMahon C.M.A. | Senior VP & CFO | 1969 |
| Annette F. Favorite | Chief HR Officer & Senior VP | 1965 |
| Shane A. Campbell | SVP & Chief Proprietary Segment Officer | 1981 |
| Chad R. Winters | VP of Finance & Chief Accounting Officer | 1979 |
| Devesh Mathur | Senior VP & CTO | – |
| John P. Sweeney C.F.A. | Vice President of Investor Relations | – |
| Norman D. Finch Jr. | Senior VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | 1965 |
| Michele Polinsky | Vice President of Global Communications | – |
| Rudy J. Poussot | Senior Vice President of Strategy & Corporate Development | 1970 |
| Kathy DePadua | Senior VP and Chief Quality & Regulatory Officer | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 20, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.