Beyond Air (NASDAQ:XAIR) & West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) Head to Head Contrast

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) and Beyond Air (NASDAQ:XAIR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.5% of Beyond Air shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.0% of Beyond Air shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Pharmaceutical Services	$3.07 billion	8.97	$493.70 million	$7.81	50.19
Beyond Air	$7.68 million	0.26	-$33.25 million	($68.40)	-0.03

West Pharmaceutical Services has higher revenue and earnings than Beyond Air. Beyond Air 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for West Pharmaceutical Services and Beyond Air, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Pharmaceutical Services	0	2	12	0	2.86
Beyond Air	1	0	3	0	2.50

West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus target price of $391.17, suggesting a potential downside of 0.21%. Beyond Air has a consensus target price of $105.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4,923.92%. Given Beyond Air’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Beyond Air is more favorable than West Pharmaceutical Services.

Volatility & Risk

West Pharmaceutical Services has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Beyond Air has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and Beyond Air’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Pharmaceutical Services	16.98%	20.11%	14.83%
Beyond Air	-435.71%	-440.26%	-98.50%

Summary

West Pharmaceutical Services beats Beyond Air on 12 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 Beyond Air

Beyond Air, Inc. operates as a commercial-stage medical device and biopharmaceutical company in the United States. The company engages in the development of LungFit platform, a nitric oxide generator and delivery system. It offers LungFit PH for the treatment of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. The company is also developing LungFit PRO for the treatment of viral lung infections, such as community-acquired viral pneumonia, including COVID-19, as well as bronchiolitis in hospitalized patients; and LungFit GO for the treatment of nontuberculous mycobacteria. The company was formerly known as AIT Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Beyond Air, Inc. in June 2019. Beyond Air, Inc. is based in Garden City, New York.