CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) shares have been a great place to invest over the last decade.
During this time, the biotherapeutics giant's shares have delivered an average total return of 16.04% per annum.
This means that if you had invested $1,000 into CSL's shares in 2013, you would have seen your investment grow to be worth almost $4,500 today.
This has been driven by the company's strong profit growth over the last 10 years thanks to its world-class portfolio of therapies and vaccines, its significant investment in research and development, and a series of successful acquisitions.
But those returns have been and gone. What about if you were a new investor putting $1,000 into its shares today? What might that be worth in a year?
Investing $1,000 into CSL shares
The good news for investors is that despite the company's heroics over the last decade, its shares are currently under the pump and down significantly from recent highs. It is for this reason that a number of analysts believe that now is the time to snap up CSL shares.
However, we have a slight problem here. The CSL share price is currently fetching $266.82, which means we're going to have to find an extra $67.28 so we can purchase 4 whole shares for a total of $1,067.28.
But it will be more than worth it if the team at Citi is on the money with its recommendation. It has a buy rating and a $325 price target on the company's shares.
If CSL's shares were to rise to Citi's price target, our 4 shares would have a market value of $1,300. That's $232.72 greater than our original investment.
Keep holding
If we decided to hold onto our shares for another nine years, then compounding could work its magic and grow our investment even further.
For example, by earning a return of 9.6% per annum (the average 30-year return for ASX shares) from 2024 to 2033, our $1,300 would grow to almost $3,000. Not bad if you ask me.
And let's not forget that CSL has a history of outperforming the market, so the returns could be even better. Though, that is of course not a guarantee as past performance doesn't always repeat itself.
