West Pharmaceutical Services key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, West Pharmaceutical Services had return on equity of 16.9%, an operating margin of 19.0%, debt equal to 6.4% of equity and a current ratio of 3.02. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

West Pharmaceutical Services: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Gross margin	28.8%	28.8%	28.5%	30.6%	31.8%	31.5%	32.6%	33.2%	32.1%	31.8%	32.9%	35.8%	41.5%	39.4%	38.3%	34.5%	35.9%	37.6%
Operating margin	9.2%	8.2%	9.2%	10.7%	11.9%	12.8%	9.2%	12.9%	14.1%	14.0%	16.1%	19.0%	26.6%	25.4%	22.9%	19.7%	19.0%	23.0%
Net margin	6.9%	5.9%	6.3%	6.4%	8.2%	8.9%	6.8%	9.5%	9.4%	12.0%	13.1%	16.1%	23.4%	20.3%	20.1%	17.0%	16.1%	18.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	3.1%	6.1%	3.0%	4.4%	5.0%	5.0%	5.8%	3.3%	8.3%	10.7%	13.1%	13.9%	11.7%	15.2%	14.1%	9.6%	15.3%	13.3%
Return on equity	12.5%	10.8%	11.8%	11.7%	13.7%	13.6%	9.7%	13.4%	12.6%	15.5%	16.3%	20.2%	31.6%	23.3%	21.3%	17.7%	16.9%	20.8%
Return on assets	5.7%	5.1%	5.6%	5.4%	6.9%	7.6%	5.7%	8.4%	8.4%	10.8%	11.2%	13.5%	21.7%	16.9%	15.9%	13.2%	12.5%	15.3%
Asset turnover	0.83	0.86	0.89	0.85	0.85	0.85	0.83	0.88	0.89	0.89	0.85	0.84	0.93	0.83	0.79	0.77	0.78	0.82
Current ratio	2.32	2.57	1.94	2.13	2.75	2.61	2.14	2.66	2.66	3.15	3.10	2.73	2.93	3.70	2.88	2.79	3.02	2.82
Debt to equity	65.5%	57.3%	53.4%	56.5%	41.2%	35.1%	29.2%	20.5%	15.4%	14.1%	16.4%	13.8%	10.9%	7.8%	7.2%	7.6%	6.4%	6.8%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	6.4x	5.4x	6.0x	8.1x	9.6x	11.0x	9.1x	24.1x	28.9x	28.6x	34.9x	49.6x	91.7x	92.9x	75.1x	190.0x	—	96.3x
Effective tax rate	16.2%	18.3%	25.4%	30.1%	27.3%	27.9%	22.7%	28.7%	36.4%	17.2%	20.2%	18.1%	14.3%	16.9%	17.5%	18.4%	20.2%	21.3%
R&D as % of revenue	1.9%	2.2%	2.4%	2.6%	2.8%	2.6%	2.4%	2.4%	2.4%	2.3%	2.1%	2.2%	1.9%	2.0%	2.3%	2.4%	2.4%	2.2%
SG&A as % of revenue	16.8%	17.0%	16.0%	17.2%	17.2%	16.1%	16.6%	15.9%	15.4%	15.3%	14.8%	14.1%	12.8%	11.0%	12.0%	11.7%	12.8%	12.9%
Capital spending as % of revenue	9.9%	6.4%	8.0%	10.4%	11.1%	7.9%	9.4%	11.3%	8.2%	6.1%	6.9%	8.1%	8.9%	9.9%	12.3%	13.0%	9.3%	5.9%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	45.2%	102.9%	46.8%	69.5%	61.1%	55.9%	84.5%	34.3%	87.9%	88.9%	99.6%	86.1%	50.0%	75.0%	69.9%	56.1%	95.0%	71.0%
Dividends ÷ net income	27.7%	33.2%	30.7%	30.9%	23.8%	22.9%	33.9%	24.9%	25.9%	20.3%	18.7%	13.9%	7.7%	9.2%	9.6%	12.0%	12.4%	9.8%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	65.2%	35.4%	75.6%	52.8%	38.9%	41.0%	40.1%	178.9%	85.7%	61.4%	53.2%	54.9%	56.9%	58.5%	119.5%	224.3%	41.6%	165.0%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

West Pharmaceutical Services: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Gross margin	36.5%	33.2%	35.7%	36.6%	37.8%	35.1%	37.7%	39.7%
Operating margin	21.3%	15.3%	20.1%	20.8%	19.5%	21.0%	20.5%	30.6%
Net margin	17.4%	12.9%	17.2%	17.4%	16.4%	16.4%	17.7%	24.5%
Free-cash-flow margin	11.4%	8.3%	13.3%	16.6%	21.7%	5.6%	9.3%	17.2%
Current ratio	2.79	2.77	2.78	2.87	3.02	2.71	2.82	2.82
Debt to equity	7.6%	7.6%	6.9%	6.6%	6.4%	6.8%	6.8%	6.8%
R&D as % of revenue	2.5%	2.3%	2.5%	2.1%	2.7%	1.9%	2.3%	2.1%
SG&A as % of revenue	11.4%	12.6%	12.5%	12.8%	13.3%	11.8%	13.5%	12.9%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

7 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $4.1bn

Short-term assets $1.8bnLonger-term assets $2.2bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $4.1bn

Short-term liabilities $644mLonger-term liabilities $448mShareholders' equity $3.0bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.8bn of assets due within a year against $644m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.8bn short-term assets against $448m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $464m of cash against $203m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 7% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 9% to 7% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $654m of operating cash flow against $203m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $780m against $8m of interest.

From West Pharmaceutical Services's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

77 /100

Strong moat

How hard West Pharmaceutical Services's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 20 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 15.7% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 12 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 35.2%, moving by 3.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 16 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 19.7%; its worst year was 13.7%.
Cash conversion 16 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 12.6% of revenue.
Discipline 19 / 20

The diluted share count fell 5.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.0% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (82 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from West Pharmaceutical Services's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to West Pharmaceutical Services.