Australia's top brokers have been busy adjusting their estimates and recommendations again, leading to the release of a large number of broker notes this week.
Three broker buy ratings that have caught my eye are summarised below. Here's why brokers think these ASX shares are in the buy zone:
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
According to a note out of UBS, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $44.00 price target on this artificial intelligence services company's shares. This is despite the release of a trading update by Appen this week which revealed that it will fall well short of its guidance this year due to a weaker than expected fourth quarter. While this is disappointing, the broker expects Appen to bounce back strongly in FY 2021 when COVID headwinds ease. The Appen share price is trading at $25.48 this afternoon.
Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL)
A note out of Citi reveals that its analysts have retained their buy rating and $40.60 price target on this gaming technology company's shares. The broker notes that Aristocrat has launched its Doom Tower game from the RAID Shadow Legends series. It has been pleased with the long-awaited release and notes that gamers have responded positively to it. It expects this to be a boost to its Digital revenues in FY 2021. The Aristocrat Leisure share price is fetching $30.01 on Friday.
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)
Analysts at Macquarie have retained their outperform rating and $46.00 price target on this mining giant's shares. The broker has upgraded its iron ore forecasts and believes there could be significant upside should prices remain at spot prices for longer than expected. As things stand, Macquarie believes BHP is well-placed to deliver generous dividends over the near term. It is forecasting a ~$3.09 per share dividend in FY 2021 and a $2.78 per share dividend in FY 2022. Based on the current BHP share price of $42.93, this represents fully franked 7.2% and 6.5% yields.
