CSL now looks attractive on a bloated ASX, says Simon Mawhinney
CSL’s sweeping restructure has hammered its share price, but the Allan Gray chief investment officer says the shift may finally make the biotech a buy.
CSL’s plan to cut around 3,000 jobs, reduce R&D spending and sell off its vaccine business has sent its share price into a tailspin. But for the first time the stock looks attractive to Simon Mawhinney, managing director and chief investment officer of Allan Gray.
When CSL announced its restructure plans alongside full-year earnings on 19 August, the blue-chip stock slumped 16.9% and has continued to track lower since.
Speaking on a panel at Livewire Live 2025 on Tuesday, Mawhinney said “this is the first time ever that CSL has presented attractively to us relative to the broader stock market”.
He said the stock is trading at about 19 times next year’s earnings, compared to “the stock market at over 20”. He also noted that “[earnings] are growing at mid to high single digits versus the stock market growing at 3 or 4%, so I think things have changed for CSL”.
