CSL Limited’s share price is still nursing some heavy bruises, but under the surface the story in December 2025 is more “complex reboot” than simple “fallen giant”.
On 5 December 2025, the ASX healthcare heavyweight is trading near multi‑year lows after a brutal few months of restructuring, a guidance cut and a delayed vaccines spin‑off. At the same time, CSL is ramping up a large on‑market buyback, opening a $1 billion vaccine and antivenom plant in Melbourne and reiterating medium‑term profit growth targets.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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This article pulls together the latest price action, company announcements, analyst forecasts and technical views available on 5 December 2025, to give a rounded picture of where CSL stands today.
CSL share price today: where the stock stands
CSL shares closed at about A$182.43 on 5 December 2025, down 1.7% for the session. The stock traded between A$182.07 and A$185.58, with volume around 367,000 shares.
Investing.com
Despite the red day, the share price has crept higher in recent weeks. Over the last two weeks, CSL is up just over 4%, having closed at A$185.61 the previous day and spent much of late November around A$179–186.
Investing.com
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Zoom out, though, and the damage is obvious:
52‑week range: roughly A$168–A$290
12‑month share price performance: about ‑35%
Investing.com
Market capitalisation: around A$88–89 billion at current prices
StockInvest
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CSL is still a giant, but it’s no longer priced like the near‑bulletproof compounder it once was.
Fresh December 2025 developments: buyback momentum and a new vaccine mega‑plant
Buyback update: A$750m program now visibly in market
The big capital‑management story right now is CSL’s on‑market buyback.
In August, alongside its FY25 results, CSL announced a multi‑year buyback program, starting with A$750 million of ordinary shares to be repurchased in FY26. Management framed it as a way to “enhance capital efficiency”, returning excess cash while keeping net debt/EBITDA below 2x.
Global Newsroom | CSL
By 5 December 2025, we now have concrete progress numbers:
CSL has repurchased 2,551,319 ordinary fully paid shares under the program.
41,657 shares were bought back on the previous trading day alone.
TipRanks
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TipRanks notes that the buyback is one plank in CSL’s strategy to optimise its capital structure, with the stock currently carrying a “Sell” technical sentiment, but with the most recent analyst rating still a “Buy” with a A$256 target price.
TipRanks
Put simply: the company is buying at these levels, even as short‑term technical models remain cautious.
New A$1bn Seqirus facility: vaccines and antivenoms at scale
On 2 December 2025, CSL opened a A$1 billion cell‑based influenza vaccine and antivenom manufacturing facility in Melbourne, under its CSL Seqirus brand.
Global Newsroom | CSL
Key points from the company’s release:
It’s the only cell‑based influenza vaccine manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere, giving Australia rare sovereign capacity in advanced flu vaccines.
The site can produce over 150 million doses in the first wave of a pandemic and is designed to supply both Australia and export markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.
Global Newsroom | CSL
It’s the only facility globally capable of making all eleven of Australia’s antivenoms (for snakes, spiders, etc.) as well as the human Q‑fever vaccine.
Global Newsroom | CSL
The plant replaces CSL’s 80‑year‑old egg‑based Parkville facility and anchors a long‑term partnership with the Australian government for pandemic readiness.
Global Newsroom | CSL
For valuation, this matters in two ways: Seqirus is likely to become a separately listed vaccine specialist in future (more on that below), and this plant underpins both its revenue and its strategic importance to governments.
How CSL got into this mess: restructure shock, Seqirus demerger and AGM drama
To understand why CSL trades near a five‑year low despite record profits, you have to rewind to August and October.
August 2025: big profit, bigger shake‑up
On 18 August 2025, CSL reported for FY25:
NPAT: US$3.0 billion, up 17% at constant currency
Underlying NPATA: US$3.3 billion, up 14% at constant currency
Final dividend lifted to US$1.62 per share.
Global Newsroom | CSL
Alongside the solid numbers, management dropped a major transformation program:
Cut ~3,000 roles, or up to 15% of its global workforce.
Closed 22 underperforming plasma collection centres in the US (about 7% of the footprint).
Announced one‑off restructuring costs of roughly US$700–770m pre‑tax (US$560–620m post‑tax), mostly in FY26.
Targeted US$500–550m of annualised cost savings within three years.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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Crucially, CSL also revealed its intention to demerge CSL Seqirus as a substantial ASX‑listed vaccine company before the end of FY26.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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The market did not exactly throw confetti. A detailed breakdown from The Bull notes that CSL shares dropped around 15% in a single session, hitting a low near A$200.66 and leaving the stock down about 28% year‑to‑date at that point. Concerns focused on restructuring execution risk and weaker‑than‑expected profit forecasts, particularly in vaccines and plasma.
The Bull
October 2025 AGM: guidance cut, spin‑off delayed, second strike
Things went from “ouch” to “double ouch” at the late‑October AGM.
According to ABC’s markets live blog, CSL’s share price slumped about 15–16% on 28 October, closing near A$177.85 and ranking as the worst performer on the ASX 200 that day.
ABC
The triggers:
CSL downgraded FY26 guidance, cutting expected revenue growth from 4–5% to 2–3%, and trimming NPATA growth expectations from 7–10% to around 4–7% at constant currency.
MarketScreener
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Management delayed the Seqirus spin‑off, shifting from a firm “before end FY26” timeline to a softer “when market conditions allow” message.
TechStock²
Shareholders delivered a “second strike” on the remuneration report, with about 42% of votes against – but the subsequent board spill resolution was crushed, with less than 2% in favour, so the board survived.
ABC
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A TechStock² pre‑open brief in November neatly summarised the mood: investors were suddenly staring at a slower near‑term growth profile, a delayed demerger and a hefty restructure to absorb, even as a buyback started to drip into the market.
TechStock²
Sentiment check: “expensive growth stock” becomes “beaten‑up blue chip”
CSL has long traded as a high‑quality growth compounder, and when the narrative gets dented, the fall is usually sharp.
A late‑November piece in The Australian pointed out that CSL shares are down about 34.7% over 12 months, lumped together with other former market darlings like CBA, Wisetech and Xero as “expensive” stocks being repriced in a more value‑conscious market. Analysts quoted flagged concerns about CSL’s R&D delivering sufficient growth and about the vaccine demerger “going sideways”.
The Australian
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At the same time, some valuation models now see opportunity rather than excess:
Investing.com’s data shows CSL’s one‑year return at roughly ‑35%, with the stock bouncing along closer to its 52‑week low than its high.
Investing.com
A Yahoo‑sourced fair‑value analysis (via Google Finance) recently suggested the stock might be around 43% undervalued versus its discounted cash‑flow (DCF) estimate, and even about 30% below its own estimate of the average analyst price target.
Yahoo Finance
So sentiment is bifurcated: macro commentators still see CSL as a formerly expensive growth stock being repriced, while more model‑driven valuation tools increasingly point to potential undervaluation.
Valuation today: P/E has fallen back to earth
One of the clearest changes since the sell‑off is CSL’s valuation multiple.
Across several data providers, you now see:
Current / trailing P/E: roughly 19–22x
Simply Wall St pegs CSL’s P/E around 19.7x, versus an estimated “fair” P/E of 23.3x based on its growth and margins.
Simply Wall St
Wisesheets shows a current TTM P/E near 19.3x.
Wisesheets
Other sources still show a higher trailing P/E in the low‑20s depending on the exact earnings window used.
GuruFocus
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By contrast, MarketScreener’s historical series shows CSL trading on P/E multiples above 35–40x through 2021–2024, before dropping to about 25x for FY25, with consensus forecasting further compression to roughly 23x in FY26 and 17x by FY27 as earnings grow into the price.
MarketScreener
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In short: CSL is no longer the “40x earnings forever” stock. At ~20x trailing and mid‑teens forward P/E, the market is pricing in solid but not heroic growth, and a non‑zero chance that execution stumbles.
What analysts are saying: targets still well above the current price
Despite the scare stories, most formal analyst coverage remains broadly constructive.
Consensus and price targets
MarketScreener reports a “Buy” consensus from 16 analysts, with an average target price of about US$159.96 for CSL’s US‑traded line, versus a last close around US$122.87 – implying roughly 30% upside in USD terms.
MarketScreener
Fintel aggregates broker targets for the ASX line and finds an average 12‑month price target of A$250.42, with a range from A$196.95 to A$308.92, based on forecasts collected in mid‑November.
Fintel
TipRanks notes the latest individual analyst report it tracks as a “Buy” with a A$256 target, again comfortably above current levels.
TipRanks
Fair‑value models lean in the same direction:
Simply Wall St’s P/E‑based fair value suggests CSL is trading below its “fair PE” calculated from its projected earnings growth and margins.
Simply Wall St
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The earlier‑mentioned DCF‑style estimate suggests potential upside of 40%+ if CSL delivers roughly the growth path embedded in that model.
Yahoo Finance
That said, higher‑level commentary is more cautious. Some strategists warn that “beaten up” doesn’t automatically mean “cheap”, especially if vaccine volumes and R&D‑driven launches disappoint.
The Australian
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Growth outlook: what CSL is guiding for now
Despite the downgrade, CSL is still guiding to decent growth from FY26 onward – just at a more mortal pace.
From the company’s own FY25 result and subsequent updates:
FY26 group revenue growth: initially guided at 4–5%, later trimmed to 2–3% at constant currency as Seqirus headwinds and market conditions crystallised.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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FY26 NPATA: expected at US$3.45–3.55 billion, representing 7–10% growth over FY25 excluding restructuring costs.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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At its November Capital Markets Day, CSL indicated it sees mid‑single‑digit revenue growth and high‑single‑digit NPAT growth beyond FY26, with ongoing dividends and buybacks.
MarketScreener
Independent aggregators largely line up with that story:
Simply Wall St forecasts earnings per share growth of about 10.1% per year, with revenue growing around 4.4% annually and return on equity near 17% within three years.
Simply Wall St
An Investing.com earnings‑forecast snapshot shows consensus EPS stepping up from FY26 through FY30, roughly consistent with high‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit annual growth.
Investing.com Nigeria
In other words: the market no longer believes in CSL as a 15–20% compounder, but it does still model it as a high‑margin business capable of mid‑single‑digit sales growth and high‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit profit growth if management executes.
Product and pipeline levers: more than just plasma
A big question for CSL’s multiple is whether the company can prove it’s more than a plasma collection story with a flu‑shot side hustle.
Current levers include:
New vaccine & antivenom plant (Seqirus, Melbourne)
Beyond the political and public health benefits, the A$1bn Melbourne facility is designed to support seasonal and pandemic flu vaccine supply globally and secure CSL’s role as a key sovereign partner to the Australian government. This reinforces Seqirus’ positioning ahead of any future demerger.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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ANDEMBRY® (garadacimab)
CSL’s first‑in‑class FXIIa inhibitor for hereditary angioedema (HAE) won FDA approval in June 2025, offering once‑monthly prophylaxis and expanding the Behring rare‑disease franchise. Early U.S. launch traction and reimbursement are important watchpoints for FY26–27 growth.
TechStock²
HEMGENIX® (gene therapy for haemophilia B)
Recent updates show broader access via novel reimbursement frameworks in markets like Germany and a pan‑Canadian letter of intent, allowing provincial listings. The real question now is how quickly treatment starts ramp up and how payers handle one‑off gene therapy economics.
TechStock²
CSL Vifor
Vifor continues to deliver strong growth in iron therapies and nephrology (e.g., TAVNEOS® and FILSPARI®), which management says can offset some Seqirus volatility.
Global Newsroom | CSL
Layered on top of that are the restructuring‑driven cost saves, which – if achieved without damaging the franchises – should provide operating leverage even in a slower‑growth environment.
CSL Limited
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Technical and short‑term trading view: “Hold/accumulate” with a falling trend
If you zoom out to fundamentals, you get one picture. Short‑term technical screens give another.
StockInvest’s daily technical commentary for 4 December 2025 (the last full trading day before today’s close) notes:
StockInvest
CSL gained 1.82% on 4 Dec, from A$182.30 to A$185.61, with intraday fluctuation of about 2.2%.
The stock has risen in 6 of the last 10 sessions, up 4.08% over two weeks.
They classify CSL as a “Hold/Accumulate” candidate after upgrading it from “Sell”, thanks to a recent pivot bottom and improving short‑term momentum.
Nonetheless, the shares still sit in the middle of a “very wide and falling trend” in the short term, and their model currently imagines potential downside of around 14% over the next three months, with a 90% confidence band roughly between A$135 and A$176.
Combined with Investing.com’s data showing a 52‑week high of A$290.32 and low of A$168.00, plus a one‑year return of about ‑35%, the technical story is basically: “trend still down, but buyers are starting to nibble”.
Investing.com
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Retail commentary reflects that tug‑of‑war. A widely‑circulated piece on 4 December described CSL shares as “massively oversold” and argued the stock now looks like a bargain after the August‑October sell‑off.
The Motley Fool
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Key risks to watch
For all the buy‑the‑dip chatter, the risks are very real and very non‑theoretical:
Restructuring execution risk – Cutting ~15% of staff, closing plasma centres and re‑wiring the operating model is not trivial. If savings fail to materialise or disrupt growth in core franchises, the thesis weakens quickly.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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Seqirus demerger uncertainty – Management has walked back the firm FY26 spin‑off timing; if market conditions or earnings trends remain soft, the demerger could be pushed further out or emerge at a lower‑than‑hoped valuation.
TechStock²
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Flu vaccine and pandemic product dynamics – Seqirus benefited from elevated pandemic‑era demand; the company now faces “irrational” competition and softer U.S. vaccination rates, which have already contributed to guidance cuts.
The Bull
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Macro and rate sensitivity – CSL has historically traded like a long‑duration growth asset. Higher real rates and a market rotation toward value compress multiples, especially when growth wobbles.
The Australian
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Governance and pay optics – The AGM “second strike” on remuneration wasn’t a crisis (the board spill was crushed), but it signals a chunk of shareholders are grumpy about pay versus performance.
ABC
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These are the “show‑me” hurdles the business has to clear for the multiple to re‑rate.
The bottom line for investors on 5 December 2025
Standing back from the noise, CSL today looks like this:
A global biotech and vaccines leader trading around A$182, roughly 35% below where it sat a year ago and well off its A$290 peak.
Investing.com
Running a large on‑market buyback, a leaner cost base in the making, and a new A$1bn vaccine/antivenom facility that cements its strategic role in public health.
TipRanks
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Global Newsroom | CSL
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Guiding to mid‑single‑digit revenue growth and high‑single‑digit NPAT growth beyond FY26, with analysts’ models broadly in line.
Global Newsroom | CSL
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MarketScreener
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Trading on a P/E in the high teens to low‑20s, a far cry from its 40x glory days, yet still with a meaningful quality premium to the broader market.
Simply Wall St
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Sitting in the crossfire of technical caution (falling trend, hold rating) and fundamental optimism (Buy consensus, price targets 30–40% above the current price).
TipRanks
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MarketScreener
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Fintel
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Whether that mix screams “opportunity” or “value trap” depends on how much faith you put in CSL’s ability to execute its restructuring, ramp new products like ANDEMBRY and HEMGENIX, stabilise Seqirus and successfully spin it off when the market will actually pay for it.
Either way, as at 5 December 2025, CSL is no longer the untouchable growth titan priced for perfection. It’s a high‑quality, slightly battle‑scarred blue chip, with a lot to prove and a lot of levers to pull.
