June 3 would have been an excellent day to channel your inner Warren Buffett and buy CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) shares.
Of the many investment quotes Buffett is famous for, perhaps the best known is, "Be greedy when others are fearful."
Indeed, on 3 June, a lot of investors were fearful about buying the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) biotech giant, after it closed at a more than nine-year low.
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Why did CSL shares crash to a multi-year low?
The CSL share price decline began in mid-2024 and ran for roughly two years.
Over this time the company issued a number of earnings downgrades, partly driven by lower than forecast plasma demand.
Vaccine uptakes in the United States also slumped, right about when management announced their plan to spin off the CSL Seqirus segment, its influenza vaccine business, into a separate ASX-listed company. (That plan remains on hold at the moment.)
Investors also reacted negatively to former CSL CEO Paul McKenzie's unexpected exit in February this year.
Which brings us back to the closing bell on June 3, when you could have picked up CSL for just $92.24 a share.
Investing $10,000 into the ASX 200 healthcare share
If you'd embraced your inner Warren Buffett and invested $10,000 in the ASX 200 biotech stock on 3 June, you could have picked up 108 shares with a bit of pocket money left over.
On Tuesday, CSL shares were trading for $171.66 apiece. And if you held the stock through to market close, you'd also have received the final CSL dividend of $2.277 a share.
The stock is trading ex-dividend today.
So, if we add that passive income payout back into the recent share price, then the accumulated value of the shares you picked up for $92.24 on June 3 works out to (a rounded) $173.94 each.
Meaning the 108 shares you acquired for $10,000 just over three months ago would be worth $18,786 today.
Or a gain of 87.9%.
What's sent the CSL shares rocketing?
By 17 August, shares in the ASX 200 healthcare stock had recovered to $134.60 as investors began to bet on the success of the company's 'reset' process.
Then on 18 August, CSL shares rocketed 17.3% following the release of the company's full-year FY 2026 results.
While revenue declined 1% year on year and CSL reported a net loss after tax of US$2.6 billion, the company forecast steady revenue in FY 2027 and underlying NPAT growth of around 5%.
"FY26 has been a year of reset. We have taken decisive action and created a clear path to return to sustainable growth," CSL interim CEO Gordon Naylor said on the day of the results release.
