# CSL (CSL.AU)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CSL.AU

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z. Financial observations: FY1997–FY2026.

Listing currency: AUD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: AUD 186.90 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low AUD 83.00 per share, central AUD 100.22 per share, high AUD 116.21 per share. Buy at or below the central value AUD 100.22 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 6.7% at the stated quote. About 6.7% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; AU 10-year bond 5.2% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.17×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.25×

- FY2018: 0.30×

- FY2019: 0.25×

- FY2020: 0.24×

- FY2021: 0.25×

- FY2022: 0.22×

- FY2023: 0.16×

- FY2024: 0.19×

- FY2025: 0.19×

- FY2026: 0.26×

### moat: fail

- Recent gross margin fell 4.7pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 18.1%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 10.2%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 4.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 52.4%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 47.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 12.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 10.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 24.9%

- FY2018: 25.3%

- FY2019: 21.2%

- FY2020: 18.1%

- FY2021: 18.6%

- FY2022: 10.2%

- FY2023: 6.4%

- FY2024: 11.2%

- FY2025: 12.1%

- FY2026: 18.2%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.78×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $5.8B

- Net income, five-year total: $7.5B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 20.9%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 7.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 55.0%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 0.62×

- FY2023: 0.85×

- FY2024: 0.92×

- FY2025: 0.89×

- FY2026: 0.97×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 24.9% vs 12.1%

- Per-share earnings: 2.95 to 5.44 (three-year endpoint medians)

- acquired goodwill and intangibles (proxy) exceeds half of ten-year net income with low and deteriorating ROIC

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 0.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.9%

- Market cap gain: -$5.3B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $6.3B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 0.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.9%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: 8.0%

- Per-share value change: $2.49

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $2.95

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $5.44

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.50

- Average buyback yield: 1.0%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $37B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $17B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 24.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 12.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: $2.95

- FY2018: $3.62

- FY2019: $4.21

- FY2020: $4.61

- FY2021: $5.18

- FY2022: $4.66

- FY2023: $4.52

- FY2024: $5.44

- FY2025: $6.18

- FY2026: -$5.50

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -18.5%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.12×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 0.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.74×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 1.0%

- FY2018: -2.4%

- FY2019: 2.2%

- FY2020: -9.7%

- FY2021: -13.5%

- FY2022: -3.8%

- FY2023: -3.1%

- FY2024: -0.3%

- FY2025: -1.4%

- FY2026: -18.5%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 40% since Jul 2024 · "CSL Plunges 22% After Cutting Outlook And Flagging $5 Billion Impairments" (finance.yahoo.com, May 2026) · sales +4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:57.909Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 10.6% a year for ten years

- 2026-05-11: CSL Plunges 22% After Cutting Outlook And Flagging $5 Billion Impairments ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/healthcare/articles/csl-plunges-22-cutting-outlook-123847437.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +4%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: $6.9B 

- FY2018: $7.5B 

- FY2019: $8.5B 

- FY2020: $9.4B 

- FY2021: $10B 

- FY2022: $10B 

- FY2023: $13B 

- FY2024: $15B 

- FY2025: $15B 

- FY2026: $16B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 47.7%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: 47.5% 

- FY2018: 54.3% 

- FY2019: 53.4% 

- FY2020: 56.1% 

- FY2021: 56.6% 

- FY2022: 54.0% 

- FY2023: 50.9% 

- FY2024: 51.5% 

- FY2025: 51.5% 

- FY2026: 47.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in biotechnology; annual sales are USD 16 billion.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2026: revenue 16042646000; grossProfit 7654441000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CSL.AU: CSL Limited engages in the research, development, manufacture, market, and distribution of biopharmaceutical products and vaccines in Australia, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, China, Hong Kong, and internationally. The company operates through CSL Behring, CSL Seqirus, and CSL Vifor segments. The CSL Behring segment manufactures, markets, and distributes plasma products, gene therapies, and recombinants. The CSL Seqirus segment manufactures, markets, and distributes influenza related products and pandemic services to governments. The CSL Vifor segment manufactures, markets, and distributes products in the therapeutic areas of iron deficiency and nephrology. The company's therapeutic areas includes Immunoglobulins, Immunology, Immunology Haematology, Cardiovascular and Renal, and Vaccines. It also licenses CSL intellectual property. It also develops vaccines for the prevention of infectious disease. The company has strategic collaboration with Dutch biotech company VarmX BV for the development of VMX-C001 to help restore blood coagulation in patients requiring urgent surgery; and Alentis Therapeutics AG to develop and commercialise lixudebart for rare kidney and liver diseases. The company was formerly known as Commonwealth Serum Laboratories Limited and later changed its name to CSL Limited in October 1991. CSL Limited was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 47.7% to 51.5% during 2024–26; it earns 18.1% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 51.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 51.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 47.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.24894837023362648],[2018,0.2530396250618292],[2019,0.21187604962506426],[2020,0.18054505482233754],[2021,0.1855475339678709],[2022,0.10246144945179654],[2023,0.0641482201420167],[2024,0.11235989699084033],[2025,0.12089609789356219],[2026,0.18185018143696913]]; median 0.18119761812965335. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 739.9 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2017: growth capex 304652182.4662751; upkeep 568775155.5337249; owner earnings 1014728638.4662751. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.30023020038810144.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2018: growth capex 203578790.62971294; upkeep 739371758.3702871; owner earnings 1199871073.629713. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.1696672210072284.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2019: growth capex 437586264.63118505; upkeep 818271364.368815; owner earnings 1469383462.381185. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.29780263344060093.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2020: growth capex 446431713.924299; upkeep 921168286.075701; owner earnings 1576244638.302299. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.28322488976402177.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2021: growth capex 522880746.8145504; upkeep 1144219253.1854496; owner earnings 1492815746.8145504. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.35026475834697024.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2022: growth capex 114446646.73857665; upkeep 1133253353.2614233; owner earnings 1388986646.7385767. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.08239578617066204.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2023: growth capex 847793918; upkeep 844206082; owner earnings 1854200000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.4572289494121454.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 847000000; owner earnings 2436601551. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2025: growth capex 39699717; upkeep 977300283; owner earnings 2669600000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.01487103573569074.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); Dividend observations: [[2017,610333362],[2018,638576827],[2019,806800000],[2020,883100000],[2021,958000000],[2022,1038700000],[2023,1239000000],[2024,1266000000],[2025,1434000000],[2026,1443000143]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); FY2026: cash repurchases 739895257 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own <0.1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CSL.AU SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.02 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 10.6% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:33:49.641Z); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.13966963058061455. Price 186.9; FX 1.4454626926079037; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share 2.4170375643630035 → FY2026 -5.340028623212615. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (AUD per share)

- 2016-10: AUD 100.51 per share

- 2016-11: AUD 98.00 per share

- 2016-12: AUD 100.41 per share

- 2017-01: AUD 112.30 per share

- 2017-02: AUD 117.86 per share

- 2017-03: AUD 125.33 per share

- 2017-04: AUD 132.55 per share

- 2017-05: AUD 129.29 per share

- 2017-06: AUD 138.03 per share

- 2017-07: AUD 126.00 per share

- 2017-08: AUD 128.52 per share

- 2017-09: AUD 133.96 per share

- 2017-10: AUD 138.93 per share

- 2017-11: AUD 143.34 per share

- 2017-12: AUD 141.30 per share

- 2018-01: AUD 146.42 per share

- 2018-02: AUD 163.17 per share

- 2018-03: AUD 155.46 per share

- 2018-04: AUD 170.36 per share

- 2018-05: AUD 185.85 per share

- 2018-06: AUD 192.62 per share

- 2018-07: AUD 196.61 per share

- 2018-08: AUD 227.31 per share

- 2018-09: AUD 201.11 per share

- 2018-10: AUD 188.00 per share

- 2018-11: AUD 177.40 per share

- 2018-12: AUD 185.16 per share

- 2019-01: AUD 194.72 per share

- 2019-02: AUD 193.76 per share

- 2019-03: AUD 194.94 per share

- 2019-04: AUD 198.57 per share

- 2019-05: AUD 205.49 per share

- 2019-06: AUD 215.00 per share

- 2019-07: AUD 229.62 per share

- 2019-08: AUD 240.87 per share

- 2019-09: AUD 233.69 per share

- 2019-10: AUD 256.03 per share

- 2019-11: AUD 283.48 per share

- 2019-12: AUD 275.76 per share

- 2020-01: AUD 312.05 per share

- 2020-02: AUD 309.44 per share

- 2020-03: AUD 296.68 per share

- 2020-04: AUD 309.44 per share

- 2020-05: AUD 276.22 per share

- 2020-06: AUD 287.00 per share

- 2020-07: AUD 270.10 per share

- 2020-08: AUD 286.01 per share

- 2020-09: AUD 287.00 per share

- 2020-10: AUD 287.56 per share

- 2020-11: AUD 297.38 per share

- 2020-12: AUD 283.18 per share

- 2021-01: AUD 271.72 per share

- 2021-02: AUD 262.59 per share

- 2021-03: AUD 264.65 per share

- 2021-04: AUD 271.16 per share

- 2021-05: AUD 290.21 per share

- 2021-06: AUD 285.19 per share

- 2021-07: AUD 288.91 per share

- 2021-08: AUD 311.94 per share

- 2021-09: AUD 293.40 per share

- 2021-10: AUD 300.49 per share

- 2021-11: AUD 306.79 per share

- 2021-12: AUD 290.72 per share

- 2022-01: AUD 260.35 per share

- 2022-02: AUD 259.98 per share

- 2022-03: AUD 268.15 per share

- 2022-04: AUD 273.30 per share

- 2022-05: AUD 271.83 per share

- 2022-06: AUD 269.06 per share

- 2022-07: AUD 289.84 per share

- 2022-08: AUD 293.54 per share

- 2022-09: AUD 285.02 per share

- 2022-10: AUD 280.48 per share

- 2022-11: AUD 300.11 per share

- 2022-12: AUD 287.76 per share

- 2023-01: AUD 298.08 per share

- 2023-02: AUD 296.30 per share

- 2023-03: AUD 288.30 per share

- 2023-04: AUD 300.58 per share

- 2023-05: AUD 306.39 per share

- 2023-06: AUD 277.38 per share

- 2023-07: AUD 268.52 per share

- 2023-08: AUD 273.53 per share

- 2023-09: AUD 250.80 per share

- 2023-10: AUD 232.35 per share

- 2023-11: AUD 262.23 per share

- 2023-12: AUD 286.65 per share

- 2024-01: AUD 301.70 per share

- 2024-02: AUD 286.24 per share

- 2024-03: AUD 287.92 per share

- 2024-04: AUD 276.76 per share

- 2024-05: AUD 280.10 per share

- 2024-06: AUD 295.21 per share

- 2024-07: AUD 309.72 per share

- 2024-08: AUD 307.16 per share

- 2024-09: AUD 286.28 per share

- 2024-10: AUD 286.95 per share

- 2024-11: AUD 282.22 per share

- 2024-12: AUD 281.58 per share

- 2025-01: AUD 280.43 per share

- 2025-02: AUD 260.57 per share

- 2025-03: AUD 249.28 per share

- 2025-04: AUD 251.13 per share

- 2025-05: AUD 246.99 per share

- 2025-06: AUD 239.48 per share

- 2025-07: AUD 270.90 per share

- 2025-08: AUD 212.89 per share

- 2025-09: AUD 198.20 per share

- 2025-10: AUD 178.50 per share

- 2025-11: AUD 186.30 per share

- 2025-12: AUD 172.65 per share

- 2026-01: AUD 181.42 per share

- 2026-02: AUD 146.76 per share

- 2026-03: AUD 140.78 per share

- 2026-04: AUD 124.37 per share

- 2026-05: AUD 96.61 per share

- 2026-06: AUD 114.74 per share

- 2026-07: AUD 123.06 per share

- 2026-08: AUD 171.57 per share

- 2026-09: AUD 184.22 per share

- 2026-10: AUD 184.58 per share

## Annual estimated value (AUD per share)

- FY2017: low AUD 64.07 per share, central AUD 90.56 per share, high AUD 105.98 per share

- FY2018: low AUD 61.74 per share, central AUD 84.73 per share, high AUD 99.02 per share

- FY2019: low AUD 61.09 per share, central AUD 81.27 per share, high AUD 94.91 per share

- FY2020: low AUD 68.73 per share, central AUD 93.44 per share, high AUD 109.03 per share

- FY2021: low AUD 72.41 per share, central AUD 95.75 per share, high AUD 111.29 per share

- FY2022: low AUD 106.43 per share, central AUD 123.69 per share, high AUD 137.00 per share

- FY2023: low AUD 73.16 per share, central AUD 88.83 per share, high AUD 102.59 per share

- FY2024: low AUD 77.83 per share, central AUD 94.10 per share, high AUD 109.03 per share

- FY2025: low AUD 83.67 per share, central AUD 101.83 per share, high AUD 117.85 per share

- FY2026: low AUD 83.00 per share, central AUD 100.22 per share, high AUD 116.21 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.