West Pharmaceutical Services
WST on NYSE. West Pharmaceutical Services sells packaging and delivery systems for injectable drugs to pharmaceutical companies. Market value $26.5bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
See cheaper Health care stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $1.65 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 38.6 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 24 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 100 of 100. Price score: 20 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$376.76 a share, 68% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $223.83 to $386.00.
Dividend: 0.2% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $2.8bn | $2.9bn | $2.9bn | $2.9bn | $3.1bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 26.6% | 25.4% | 22.9% | 19.7% | 19.0% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.11 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.08 | 0.07 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.07bn | 0.07bn | 0.07bn | 0.07bn | 0.07bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.07× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 7.4% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 5% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $872 million last quarter, up 14% on a year ago.
- Profit: $154 million, up 17% on a year ago.
- It keeps 20 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, about the same as a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $437 million, up from $344 million.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- It has $229 million more cash than debt, down from $302 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $747m |
| December 2024 | $749m |
| March 2025 | $698m |
| June 2025 | $767m |
| September 2025 | $805m |
| December 2025 | $805m |
| March 2026 | $845m |
| June 2026 | $872m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $136m |
| December 2024 | $130m |
| March 2025 | $90m |
| June 2025 | $132m |
| September 2025 | $140m |
| December 2025 | $132m |
| March 2026 | $139m |
| June 2026 | $154m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 22 October 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 17 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 22 October 2026
Who owns it
6 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 6 last quarter. 830 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longview PartnersLongview team | $371m | 6.0% | Cut |
| Findlay Park PartnersFindlay Park team | $214m | 2.9% | Cut |
| Seilern Investment ManagementPeter Seilern | $50m | 6.3% | Cut |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $4m | <0.1% | Added |
| Hillman Capital ManagementMark Hillman | $3m | 1.8% | Cut |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $2m | <0.1% | New |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$2.4bnCut
- Vanguard Capital Management$1.7bn
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.4bn
- FMR$1.3bnAdded
- State Street$1.2bn
- Artisan Partners Limited Partnership$866mCut
- Bank of New York Mellon$734mCut
- Generation Investment Management LLP$728mCut
- Geode Capital Management$681m
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management$648mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor8.4%Since 31 March 2025
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.5%Since 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Portfolio ManagementPassive investor5.7%Since 31 March 2026
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 5.0%(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 June 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 8.4% | 31 March 2025 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.5% | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Portfolio Management Passive investor | 5.7% | 31 March 2026 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 5.0% (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 June 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 2 sold $7m, $3m of it under preset trading plans.
- Favorite Annette FSr. VP & Chief HR OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 15 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,524
- Price
- $365.00
- Value
- $921,260
- Favorite Annette FSr. VP & Chief HR OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $355.00
- Value
- $887,500
- Favorite Annette FSr. VP & Chief HR OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 11 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,500
- Price
- $345.00
- Value
- $862,500
- Favorite Annette FSr. VP & Chief HR OfficerSold
- Date
- 8 September 2026
- Shares
- 8,135
- Price
- $340.81
- Value
- $3m
- Favorite Annette FSr. VP & Chief HR OfficerSold
- Date
- 27 April 2026
- Shares
- 2,817
- Price
- $305.20
- Value
- $859,748
- Winters ChadVP, Chief Accounting OfficerSold
- Date
- 27 April 2026
- Shares
- 896
- Price
- $300.67
- Value
- $269,400
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2026 | Favorite Annette F Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 2,524 | $365.00 | $921,260 |
| 14 September 2026 | Favorite Annette F Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 2,500 | $355.00 | $887,500 |
| 11 September 2026 | Favorite Annette F Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 2,500 | $345.00 | $862,500 |
| 8 September 2026 | Favorite Annette F Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer | Sold | 8,135 | $340.81 | $3m |
| 27 April 2026 | Favorite Annette F Sr. VP & Chief HR Officer | Sold | 2,817 | $305.20 | $859,748 |
| 27 April 2026 | Winters Chad VP, Chief Accounting Officer | Sold | 896 | $300.67 | $269,400 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 38.6× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.