Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) and West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Head-To-Head Analysis

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) and Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.9% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Henry Schein shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Henry Schein shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for West Pharmaceutical Services and Henry Schein, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Pharmaceutical Services	0	3	7	3	3.00
Henry Schein	1	6	6	0	2.38

West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus target price of $314.56, indicating a potential upside of 23.79%. Henry Schein has a consensus target price of $85.58, indicating a potential upside of 3.88%. Given West Pharmaceutical Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe West Pharmaceutical Services is more favorable than Henry Schein.

Risk and Volatility

West Pharmaceutical Services has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and Henry Schein”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Pharmaceutical Services	$3.07 billion	5.95	$493.70 million	$6.79	37.42
Henry Schein	$12.94 billion	0.75	$390.00 million	$3.27	25.20

West Pharmaceutical Services has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Henry Schein. Henry Schein 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 Henry Schein’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Pharmaceutical Services	16.06%	17.90%	13.29%
Henry Schein	3.02%	15.16%	5.54%

Summary

West Pharmaceutical Services beats Henry Schein on 12 of the 15 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 Henry Schein

Henry Schein, Inc. provides health care products and services to dental practitioners, laboratories, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers, government, institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care clinics worldwide. It operates through two segments, Health Care Distribution, and Technology and Value-Added Services. The Health Care Distribution segment offers dental products, including infection-control products, handpieces, preventatives, impression materials, composites, anesthetics, teeth, dental implants, gypsum, acrylics, articulators, abrasives, dental chairs, delivery units and lights, X-ray supplies and equipment, personal protective equipment, and high-tech and digital restoration equipment, as well as equipment repair services. This segment also provides medical products, such as branded and generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, surgical products, diagnostic tests, infection-control products, X-ray products, equipment, and vitamins. The Technology and Value-Added Services segment offers software, technology, and other value-added services that include practice management software systems for dental and medical practitioners; and value-added practice solutions comprising practice consultancy, education, revenue cycle management and financial services, e-services, practice technology, and network and hardware services, as well as consulting, and continuing education services. Henry Schein, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.