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West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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West Pharmaceutical Services (WST - Free Report) closed at $414.12 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.84% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.23%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.97%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.44%.

Heading into today, shares of the medical device company had gained 5.06% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 4.31% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.69% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from West Pharmaceutical Services as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, West Pharmaceutical Services is projected to report earnings of $2.18 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.34%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $724.57 million, up 8.03% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.28 per share and revenue of $3.06 billion, which would represent changes of +8.16% and +8.11%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for West Pharmaceutical Services. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.18% lower within the past month. West Pharmaceutical Services is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, West Pharmaceutical Services is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 43.83. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 20.79, which means West Pharmaceutical Services is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that WST currently has a PEG ratio of 4.55. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. WST's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.4 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 107, putting it in the top 43% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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