West Pharmaceutical Services announced Thursday it has increased its annual earnings and revenue projections following first-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street expectations, driven by robust demand for specialized medical components including syringes and drug cartridges.
The company’s stock price jumped nearly 13% in pre-market trading with lighter trading volume.
Equipment manufacturers like West Pharmaceutical have seen increased business due to growing demand for diabetes and weight-loss medications including Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, along with Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, all of which require injection pen delivery systems.
The company produces essential components including stoppers, plungers and delivery mechanisms used for packaging and administering vaccines, biological treatments and other injectable medications.
West Pharmaceutical, headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, has revised its 2026 adjusted earnings per share outlook to between $8.40 and $8.75, an increase from the previous range of $7.85 to $8.20.
Wall Street analysts had anticipated earnings of $8.01 per share on average, based on LSEG data.
The company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.13 per share for the period ending March 31, exceeding analyst projections of $1.68 per share. Revenue for the quarter reached $844.9 million, surpassing expectations of $780 million.
“The better-than-expected performance can be attributed to continued market demand and the team’s outstanding efforts in ramping up production, especially in Europe,” said CEO Eric Green.
The company has also raised its 2026 revenue forecast to a range of $3.29 billion to $3.35 billion, up from the prior projection of $3.215 billion to $3.275 billion.
Second-quarter sales are projected to fall between $830 million and $850 million, compared to analyst estimates of $818.5 million.
The proprietary products division, which manufactures packaging solutions such as syringes and cartridges for injectable medications, generated $694.3 million in quarterly revenue, exceeding analyst expectations of $631.3 million. This division accounts for more than half of the company’s total revenue.
