The morning market rally is petering out. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) started trade on the front foot before dipping into the red.
The big dividend cut and capital raising announced by National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) is dampening sentiment.
You won't be alone if you are worried about where the next stock with bad news will pop out from.
But leading brokers believe there are still good buying opportunities on the market and these are the latest ASX shares to score a "buy" rating.
Getting the green light
One that is zooming ahead today is the Carsales.Com Ltd (ASX: CAR) share price. The online automotive classifieds group jumped 2.3% to $13.31 after JP Morgan upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral".
The upgrade comes on the back of management's latest trading update. The 25% fall in leads volume during the depth of the COVID-19 crisis is better than what the broker had feared and is expected to improve from here.
"This is much better than the 30-60% top line declines we're seeing at other companies within the sector and demonstrates the resiliency of the business model through economic downturns," said JP Morgan.
The broker's price target on Carsales is $15.25 a share.
Steady performer
Another company that issued a pleasing update is insurance broker Steadfast Group Ltd (ASX: SDF). Credit Suisse reaffirmed its "outperform" recommendation on the stock after management reported a 25.8% jump in revenue to $597.9 million for the nine months to end March 2020.
While the sector isn't immune from the economic fallout from the coronavirus emergency, smaller independent brokers will suffer more pain. This may increase the chances of Steadfast benefiting from opportunistic acquisitions.
"While SDF has recovered some of its underperformance in recent weeks, we continue to think that the share price decline was overdone in the market sell-off," said Credit Suisse.
"While not completely immune from the current environment we consider some dire views out there to be too extreme."
The broker's 12-month price target on Steadfast is $3.50 a share.
Overtaking lane
Meanwhile, one of the latest ASX stocks that the analysts at Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) are recommending investors buy is Atlas Arteria Group (ASX: ALX).
The broker points to a few reasons to back the US-exposed toll road operator. It believes its toll concessions may be extended as part of a stimulus plan in that country. An agreement that would extend the concession by three years would add around 50 cents to the value of the stock.
But there's another reason to buy Atlas Arteria too.
"At this stage we have harsh traffic conditions as likely to continue for another 3 months, but as lockdown starts easing in mid-May, road activity should improve, providing some upside," said Macquarie.
The broker's price target on the stock is $6.90 a share.
