Should You Hold West Pharmaceutical Services (WST) for the Long-Term?
Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. In the first quarter, its Investor Class fund ARTMX returned 12.37%, Advisor Class fund APDMX posted a return of 12.43%, and Institutional Class fund APHMX returned 12.43%, compared to a 9.14% return for the Russell Midcap Growth Index. Positive stock selection drove the portfolio to outperform in the quarter and was most pronounced in the information technology and healthcare sector. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund highlighted stocks like West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in the first quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) is a manufacturer of healthcare products and injectable drug packaging. On June 21, 2023, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) stock closed at $368.90 per share. One-month return of West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) was 8.44%, and its shares gained 23.42% of their value over the last 52 weeks. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) has a market capitalization of $27.388 billion.
Artisan Mid Cap Fund made the following comment about West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:
"West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST is a leading supplier of packaging components for injectable pharmaceuticals—including rubber stoppers, seals and plungers. In last quarter’s letter, we discussed how biomanufacturing suppliers experienced a difficult second half of 2022 as they digested rapid declines in COVID-19 vaccine volumes. While we (and West) had fully expected this normalization, it occurred faster than expected, making it difficult for the company to quickly redeploy its available capacity toward other biologic drug customers. After this short-term stumble, we were very encouraged by West’s Q4 results and 2023 outlook. The company reported top- and bottom-line results that beat expectations and provided revenue growth ex-COVID guidance in the mid-teens (versus low-double digits previously), which combined with better-than-expected operating margins, led to EPS guidance meaningfully ahead of estimates. We used the Q4 selloff to add to our position and remain optimistic about its long-term profit growth prospects, which are fueled by its nearly 100% participation in new biologic drug approvals and a steady shift in demand toward the company’s higher value-add components."
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West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 37 hedge fund portfolios held West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) at the end of the first quarter 2023 which was 41 in the previous quarter.
We discussed West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) in another article and shared the list of dividend aristocrats to avoid according to hedge funds. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
