CSL Limited (ASX:CSL) shares have fallen once again, extending Tuesday’s 16% slump after a bruising annual meeting.
Shares are currently down (3pm AEST) 3,29% to $172.005.
The sell-off followed a profit downgrade across the next three financial years amid challenges in the US and China, a deferral of any decision to spin off Seqirus, and a second strike at the meeting. Tuesday’s 16% close marked CSL’s second-worst one-day fall, after an 18% drop on August 19 following a volatile earnings update.
“CSL had no real explanation as to why it would continue to deteriorate, which only served to compound the markets’ lack of confidence in management, guidance and the industry backdrop of both Behring and Seqirus,” Jarden analysts Steve Wheen and Tristan Maher said. “Given the lack of confidence in CSL’s current ability to deliver, along with a new CFO (Ken Lim), an aggressively conservative outlook seems like the only option to restore confidence.”
UBS’s Marcus Curley highlighted an “information void” around the drivers of weaker medium-term earnings growth. At Citi, Laura Sutcliffe and colleagues said “confidence could take time to return,” noting the stock now trades at a discount to the ASX 200 — a situation not seen in the past decade.