Financial Analysis: West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) and Aethlon Medical (NASDAQ:AEMD)

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

Profitability

This table compares Aethlon Medical and West Pharmaceutical Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aethlon Medical	N/A	-160.36%	-115.74%
West Pharmaceutical Services	17.37%	18.41%	13.74%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Aethlon Medical and West Pharmaceutical Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aethlon Medical	0	0	1	0	3.00
West Pharmaceutical Services	0	1	4	0	2.80

Aethlon Medical presently has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 669.23%. West Pharmaceutical Services has a consensus target price of $437.75, suggesting a potential upside of 31.59%. Given Aethlon Medical’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aethlon Medical is more favorable than West Pharmaceutical Services.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.0% of Aethlon Medical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Aethlon Medical shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are held 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.

Risk & Volatility

Aethlon Medical has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, West Pharmaceutical Services has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aethlon Medical and West Pharmaceutical Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aethlon Medical	$570,000.00	22.29	-$12.21 million	($2.82)	-0.32
West Pharmaceutical Services	$2.88 billion	8.38	$593.40 million	$6.74	49.36

West Pharmaceutical Services has higher revenue and earnings than Aethlon Medical. Aethlon Medical 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.

Summary

West Pharmaceutical Services beats Aethlon Medical on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aethlon Medical

Aethlon Medical, Inc., a medical therapeutic company, focuses on developing products to treat cancer and life-threatening infectious diseases in the United States. It develops Hemopurifier, a clinical-stage immunotherapeutic device that removes tumor-derived exosomes and life-threatening viruses and use in organ transplantation. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is based in San Diego, California.

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.