This director is buying the dip on CSL shares. Should you?

The ASX 200 healthcare giant has lost 14% of its market capitalisation since mid-June.

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CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) shares have fallen by 14% over the past nine weeks to $265.26 apiece at the time of writing.

And it looks like board member Megan Clark sees an opportunity to buy the dip.

Director spends $60,000 on extra CSL shares

According to an ASX lodgement, Clark purchased 220 CSL shares on-market last Friday.

She purchased the ASX 200 healthcare giant at an average price of $272.09 per share.

The total consideration paid was was $59,859.80.

This increased Clark's direct personal holdings to 3,473 CSL shares. She also has indirect holdings.

Clarke is an independent non-executive director of CSL.

It's always good to see directors spending their own money investing in the companies they run.

It signals confidence in the company's future.

Clark made her purchase a few days after the biotherapeutics company released its FY23 results.

Let's recap.

CSL delivers FY23 profit above guidance

CSL shares received a boost last week after the biotech reported a 20% increase (in constant currency) to net profit after tax before amortisation (NPATA).

The NPATA came in at US$2.86 billion. This compares to guidance of US$2.7 billion to US$2.8 billion.

As my Fool colleague James reported, there was a 30% increase in revenue to US$13.3 billion due to growth across all business units and an 11-month contribution from the new CSL Vifor division.

CSL management reaffirmed its FY24 guidance for NPATA of approximately $2.9 billion to $3 billion at constant currency.

This would represent growth of approximately 13% to 17% on FY23.

Should you buy?

Let's canvas the views of the experts.

Macquarie retained its outperform rating and $326 share price target after CSL reported its results.

Morgans has held firm with its add rating and an improved share price target of $328.20.

UBS stuck with its buy rating and $340 price target.

Citi maintains its a buy rating on CSL shares with a reduced price target from $340 to $325.

Goldman Sachs maintains a neutral rating and has a $296 price target. It describes CSL as "oversold".

Goldman says:

We continue to believe the shares look oversold (market-relative P/E has de-rated from 2.7x to 1.7x in the last 10 months, and our TP of $296 implies +9% upside from today's close).

CSL share price snapshot

CSL shares are currently down 0.6% on Tuesday amid the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) remaining steady.

The company took a bit of a hammering during the pandemic.

Since early 2020, CSL shares have delivered a lacklustre performance in terms of price growth.

The healthcare stock has been highly volatile, as shown below.

Created with Highcharts 11.4.3CSL PriceZoom1M3M6MYTD1Y5Y10YALL1 Feb 202029 Jul 2025Zoom ▾Jul '20Jan '21Jul '21Jan '22Jul '22Jan '23Jul '23Jan '24Jul '24Jan '25Jul '252021202120222022202320232024202420252025www.fool.com.au

Sure, it's hard to get excited about a stock that's sitting in the doldrums.

But this is the reality — and challenge — of long-term investing.

We need to see past these stagnant periods of share price activity and consider CSL's fundamentals as a long-term investment for long-term wealth creation.

While past performance is no indication of future performance, it's worth noting that CSL has gone up by more than 300% over the past 10 years compared to a 39% rise for the ASX 200.

With so many brokers backing CSL for growth in FY24, it's worth considering how big a "kicking myself" experience you're willing to endure if the stock does, indeed, recover like the experts think it will.

Citigroup is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in CSL and Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL, Goldman Sachs Group, and Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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