We recently compiled a list of the Weak Earnings, Outlook Drag Shares of These 10 Firms on Thursday. In this article, we are going to take a look at where West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) stands against the other stocks.

The stock market finished firmer on Thursday, as investors cheered fresh inflation data and tariff updates that helped alleviate concerns about inflationary pressures and global trade tensions.

The Dow Jones rose by 0.77 percent, the S&P 500 increased 1.04 percent, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.50 percent.

Despite overall market gains, ten companies managed to register declines, mostly due to disappointing earnings performance, a weaker outlook, and downgraded ratings.

To come up with Thursday’s top losers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

A closeup of multiple drug containment systems in an array of colors.

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST)

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) nosedived by 38.22 percent on Thursday to close at $199.11 apiece as investors sold off positions following a drop in its net income performance coupled with a pessimistic outlook for this year.

On Thursday, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. (NYSE:WST) said net income for the fourth quarter of 2024 declined by 5 percent to $130.1 million from $137 million in the same period in 2023, while net income for the full year 2024 declined by 16.97 percent to $492.7 million from $593.4 million in 2023.

Net sales for the quarter, however, were higher by 2 percent to $748.8 million from $732 million, while net sales for the full-year period dipped by 1.9 percent to $2.893 billion from $2.949 billion year-on-year.

For this year, the company said it targets diluted earnings per share to settle between $5.97 to $6.17, a significant drop from the $6.69 actually reported in 2024.

Overall WST ranks 1st on our list of Thursday's top losers. While we acknowledge the potential of WST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WST but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

 

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.

 

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.