Subject: Re: WST
Hi Jim.

Thanks for the reply, observations, and amusing anecdote! ;)

Well observed about the value. WST has never been cheap. If memory serves, it only got to a P/E of ~20 during the great financial crisis.

The value has been one of the big reasons I've never pulled the trigger. I've also never had the confluence of some "mad money" and a willingness to brave the chilly waters of WST's value proposition. And as I've watched WST's stock price outpace the S&P over the years, this unwillingness has been a consistent explanation for why I can't have nice things (where nice things means stocks that handily beat the S&P).

Other reasons I've never bought WST:

(i) I don't have insight into how their moat might change due to whims in federal policy.

(ii) While the lock-in related to being listed on a drug approval represents an economic moat, it is not clear how much of a barrier to entry the industry has. Could a Taiwanese firm make the same thing for 1/8th the cost and they just need to get their foot in the door? It always gave me pause.



Full disclosure: I'm not buying any WST now. And I generally shy away from direct investments in pharma and biomed firms as much of our household's lifetime financial success is strongly correlated with that sector already. As we draw closer to retirement that shyness may blossom into whatever the opposite of shyness is...impropriety?