West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) & Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) Head to Head Review

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) and Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Cooper Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Cooper Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and Cooper Companies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Pharmaceutical Services	$2.89 billion	6.51	$492.70 million	$6.68	39.22
Cooper Companies	$3.90 billion	3.45	$392.30 million	$2.03	33.28

West Pharmaceutical Services has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cooper Companies. Cooper Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Pharmaceutical Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and Cooper Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Pharmaceutical Services	16.48%	18.43%	13.67%
Cooper Companies	10.08%	9.82%	6.54%

Risk and Volatility

West Pharmaceutical Services has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cooper Companies has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for West Pharmaceutical Services and Cooper Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Pharmaceutical Services	0	3	7	2	2.92
Cooper Companies	0	2	9	1	2.92

West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus target price of $318.56, suggesting a potential upside of 21.60%. Cooper Companies has a consensus target price of $86.64, suggesting a potential upside of 28.26%. Given Cooper Companies’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cooper Companies is more favorable than West Pharmaceutical Services.

Summary

West Pharmaceutical Services beats Cooper Companies on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems; syringe and cartridge components, including custom solutions for the needs of injectable drug applications, as well as administration systems that enhance the safe delivery of drugs through advanced reconstitution, mixing, and transfer technologies; and films, coatings, washing, and vision inspection and sterilization processes and services to enhance the quality of packaging components. This segment also provides drug containment solutions, including Crystal Zenith, a cyclic olefin polymer in the form of vials, syringes, and cartridges; and self-injection devices; and a range of integrated solutions, including analytical lab services, pre-approval primary packaging support and engineering development, regulatory expertise, and after-sales technical support. This segment serves biologic, generic, and pharmaceutical drug companies. The Contract-Manufactured Products segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and automated assembly of devices used in surgical, diagnostic, ophthalmic, injectable, and other drug delivery systems, as well as consumer products. The company serves pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. It sells and distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, contract sales agents, and regional distributors. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.

About Cooper Companies

The Cooper Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The CooperSurgical segment focuses on family and women's health care, which provides fertility products and services, medical devices, and contraception, as well as cryostorage, such as cord blood and cord tissue storage to health care professionals and patients worldwide. It offers surgical and office products, including endosee endometrial imaging products, fetal pillow cephalic elevation devices for use in cesarean sections, illuminated speculum products, lone star retractor systems, loop electrosurgical excision procedure products, mara water ablation systems, paragard contraceptive IUDs, point-of-care, and uterine positioning products, as well as cryostorage, such as cord blood and cord tissue storage; fertility products and services, such as fertility consumables and equipment, donor gamete services, and genomic services, including genetic testing. The company sells its products to distributors, group purchasing organizations, eye care and health care professionals, including independent practices, corporate retailers, hospitals and clinics, and authorized resellers. The Cooper Companies, Inc. was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in San Ramon, California.