Shares in CSL have plunged more than seven per cent after the blood products and vaccines supplier disappointed investors with its half year profit and full year guidance downgrade.
CSL's net profit was up 7.2 per cent in the six months to December 31, aided by a strong rise in sales of flu vaccines and albumin, a plasma therapy used to treat trauma, burns and infections.
Net profit of $US692.2 million ($A891 million) was up from $US645.7 million a year earlier.
CSL said the outlook for its business was strong, but current trading conditions had forced it to temper its full year net profit growth forecast to 10 per cent, at constant currency rates.
The company had previously forecast a 12 per cent rise.
"(The revision) is due to increased competition around the globe," chief executive Paul Perreault said.
He said big pharmaceutical companies were becoming increasingly active in providing treatments for rare diseases, an area in which CSL specialised.
Governments were also seeking to exert greater control over the costs of healthcare, and CSL was an easy target.
Mr Perreault said CSL would meet the competition by continuing to develop more innovative, differentiated products.
And, despite the lower forecast, CSL would still deliver double-digit growth, which in the current environment was fantastic, he said.
Shares in CSL dropped $7.05, or 7.8 per cent, to $82.95, after recently hitting record highs.
OptionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said CSL's share price had plunged because the company's headline figures had fallen a bit short of market expectations and the company had cut its earnings guidance.
"Any time a market darling is going to shave its earnings guidance, then watch out," he said.
In the company's financial first half, the CSL Behring division, which develops and markets protein-based therapies, lifted sales eight per cent in constant currency terms to $US2.5 billion.
Sales of immunoglobulin products - antibodies used to treat serious immune deficiencies and neurological disorders - lifted five per cent to $US1.12 billion.
But average sales prices were dragged lower as more sales were in lower priced markets.
Albumin sales grew 16 per cent in constant currency terms to $US358 million on the back of strong global demand, especially from hospitals in China.
CSL's bioCSL vaccines division reported a 15 per cent rise in sales to $A276 million.
Influenza vaccine sales grew strongly to $A116 million, driven by a severe flu season in the northern hemisphere.
However, the division's sales were moderated because of fewer sales of its cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, due to the conclusion of a male "catch-up" immunisation program in Australia.
FLU VACCINE, ALBUMIN SALES BOOST CSL PROFIT
* First half net profit of $US692.2m, up 7.2pct from $US645.7 million in 2013/14
* Revenue of $US2.74 billion, up 6.6pct from $US2.57 billion
* Unfranked interim dividend of US58 cents, up five cents from US53 cents
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