Alcon vs West Pharmaceutical Services
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The short version
- Alcon is the larger business, with $10.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.1B for West Pharmaceutical Services, about 3.4 times as much.
- West Pharmaceutical Services grew revenue faster (6.3%, against 4.9%).
- West Pharmaceutical Services kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (19.0% operating margin, against 13.1%).
- Alcon turned more of its sales into free cash flow (16.6% FCF margin, against 15.3%).
- West Pharmaceutical Services earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (18.7%, against 4.6%).
| Latest fiscal year | ALC · FY25 | WST · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $34.8B | $28.0B |
| Revenue | $10.4B | $3.1B |
| Free cash flow | $1.7B | $469M |
| Net income | $980M | $494M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.9% | 6.3% |
| 5-year growth | 8.8% | 7.4% |
| Share count change | −0.3% | −1.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 55.2% | 35.9% |
| Operating margin | 13.1% | 19.0% |
| Net margin | 9.4% | 16.1% |
| FCF margin | 16.6% | 15.3% |
| Return on capital | 4.6% | 18.7% |
| Return on equity | 4.5% | 16.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.2B | −$583M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | −0.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $842M | $195M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 50.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 9 |
Revenue
FY16
ALC —
WST $1.5B
FY17
ALC $6.8B
WST $1.6B
FY18
ALC $7.2B
WST $1.7B
FY19
ALC $7.5B
WST $1.8B
FY20
ALC $6.8B
WST $2.1B
FY21
ALC $8.3B
WST $2.8B
FY22
ALC $8.7B
WST $2.9B
FY23
ALC $9.5B
WST $2.9B
FY24
ALC $9.9B
WST $2.9B
FY25
ALC $10.4B
WST $3.1B
ALC
WST
Operating margin
FY16
ALC —
WST 12.9%
FY17
ALC −1.1%
WST 14.1%
FY18
ALC −3.5%
WST 14.0%
FY19
ALC −2.5%
WST 16.1%
FY20
ALC −7.1%
WST 19.0%
FY21
ALC 7.0%
WST 26.6%
FY22
ALC 7.7%
WST 25.4%
FY23
ALC 11.0%
WST 22.9%
FY24
ALC 14.3%
WST 19.7%
FY25
ALC 13.1%
WST 19.0%
ALC
WST
Free cash flow
FY16
ALC —
WST $49.2M
FY17
ALC $803M
WST $133M
FY18
ALC $616M
WST $184M
FY19
ALC $367M
WST $241M
FY20
ALC $344M
WST $298M
FY21
ALC $645M
WST $331M
FY22
ALC $581M
WST $439M
FY23
ALC $730M
WST $415M
FY24
ALC $1.6B
WST $276M
FY25
ALC $1.7B
WST $469M
ALC
WST
Return on capital
FY16
ALC —
WST 12.7%
FY17
ALC —
WST 12.1%
FY18
ALC —
WST 15.9%
FY19
ALC −0.7%
WST 17.9%
FY20
ALC −1.8%
WST 23.1%
FY21
ALC 2.4%
WST 38.8%
FY22
ALC 2.2%
WST 31.9%
FY23
ALC 4.4%
WST 26.3%
FY24
ALC 4.7%
WST 20.1%
FY25
ALC 4.6%
WST 18.7%
ALC
WST
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.