West Posts $874.5 Million in Third-Quarter Sales and Raises 2026 Outlook
Key Facts
West Pharmaceutical Services reported net sales of $874.5 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 8.7% from the same period, while organic sales rose 11.9%. The company said diluted earnings per share reached $3.02, up 57.3% year over year, while adjusted earnings per share were $2.66, an increase of 35.7%. Sales topped Wall Street’s $827.1 million estimate, while adjusted earnings per share also exceeded analysts’ $2.20 estimate. Sales also surpassed the company’s prior quarterly range of $820 million to $835 million, while adjusted earnings exceeded the high end of its guidance of $2.14 to $2.24 per share. The results reflect earnings growth accelerating relative to sales growth, alongside the company’s higher annual outlook.
Chief Executive Michel Lagarde said the high-value product components business again drove quarterly results, adding that strong sales led to operating margin expansion and earnings-per-share growth. Organic sales in the business reached $469.1 million, up 20.3%, outpacing overall sales growth. Lagarde said: "The high-value product components business again drove our performance. Strong sales performance drove significant operating margin expansion and earnings per share growth." By contrast, West Vantage sales fell to $145.7 million from $157.1 million in the third quarter of 2025. The divergence highlights the reliance of the company’s quarterly growth on high-value product components, while West Vantage recorded a year-over-year decline.
The results follow sales of $872.3 million and adjusted earnings of $2.37 per share in the second quarter of 2026, when the company also raised its annual outlook. On a year-over-year basis, West posted third-quarter 2025 sales of $804.6 million, up 7.7%, and adjusted earnings of $1.96 per share. Growth in high-value product components that quarter was driven by execution of GLP-1 product programs and increased customer conversions to those products, according to the company. In the second quarter of 2026, high-value product components accounted for 49% of total sales, and their organic sales grew 18.4%. That places the business’s third-quarter performance, with organic growth of 20.3%, within a series of strong growth rates it recorded in previous periods.
West raised its 2026 sales outlook range to $3.41–$3.42 billion, compared with its previous range of $3.345–$3.380 billion. It also increased its adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to $9.38–$9.48, from $8.85–$9.05. The higher guidance follows third-quarter sales exceeding the company’s prior range and adjusted earnings topping the high end of its quarterly outlook. The increase in the annual outlook indicates the company expects the performance that supported results to continue, with high-value product components remaining the driver the chief executive cited for the quarter. The company scheduled a call to discuss third-quarter results for October 29, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
On cash flow, operating cash flow since the start of 2026 was about $403 million for the nine months ended September 30, while capital expenditures were $125 million. The company repurchased $231 million of shares in the third quarter, bringing total repurchases since the start of the year to $685 million through September 30. On October 19, it announced a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.26 per share, up 18% from $0.22 in the previous quarter. WST shares closed at $403.64 on October 28, the eve of the results announcement; Reuters reported that day that the stock was near record levels and that investors were watching demand for injection components and drug delivery systems. Published closing data did not include a session high or low.