Three S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) stocks just earned significant upgrades from top brokers.
One is a property investment company.
The second is a global packaging and distribution company.
And the third is a large-scale coal miner.
Which promising companies are we talking about?
Read on!
(Broker data courtesy of The Australian.)
Three ASX 200 stocks forecast to charge higher
The first ASX 200 stock receiving a broker upgrade is property investment company GPT Group (ASX: GPT).
The GPT share price is up 3.3% in morning trade on Thursday at $5.07. That sees GPT shares up 21% over the past 12 months. GPT shares also trade on an unfranked trailing dividend yield of 4.8%.
And Morgan Stanley sees more outperformance ahead for the ASX 200 stock.
The broker raised GPT Group to an overweight rating with a price target of $5.60. That represents a potential upside of 10% from current levels, not including the upcoming dividends.
GPT reported its half-year results on 19 August. Over the six months, funds from operations (FFO) at the property investment company reached $309.1 million. Management said the business was on track to deliver its 2024 full-year guidance.
Which brings us to the second ASX 200 stock scoring a broker upgrade, global packaging and distribution company Orora Ltd (ASX: ORA).
The Orora share price is down 1.1% at the time of writing at $2.65. That sees Orora shares down 8% in 12 months. Orora shares also trade on an unfranked trailing dividend yield of 3.8%.
Jeffries forecasts a strong run ahead for this ASX 200 stock. The broker raised Orora to a buy rating with a price target of $3.00. That's 13% above current levels.
Orora reported its FY 2024 results on 14 August. Highlights included a 9.5% year on year increase in sales revenue, which came to $4.7 billion, driven by its Saverglass acquisition. Underlying net profit of $224 million was up 10.2% from FY 2023.
And the company made big news on 4 September when it announced it had entered into a binding agreement to sell Orora Packaging Solutions to Veritiv Corporation for an enterprise value of $1.78 billion (US$1.2 billion).
Rounding off the list of ASX 200 stocks that just got upgraded by brokers is coal mining giant Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC).
The Whitehaven share price is up 0.1% today at $6.15. That sees Whitehaven shares down 3% over 12 months. Whitehaven shares also trade on a 3.3% fully franked trailing dividend yield.
But JPMorgan expects a much stronger performance ahead. The broker placed an overweight rating on the ASX 200 stock with a $9.20 price target. That's almost 50% above the current share price.
Whitehaven reported its full-year results on 22 August. With coal prices in retreat over the year, revenue declined by 37% from FY 2023 to $3.8 billion.
Promisingly, however, run-of-mine (ROM) production increased by 35% year on year to 24.5 million tonnes.
