Are you looking for some investment inspiration in 2025? If you are, then it could pay to listen to what Bell Potter is saying about the ASX stocks in this article.
That's because these shares have been named as best buys for the year ahead. Here's what its analysts are saying about them:
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Gentrack Group Ltd (ASX: GTK)
The first ASX stock that Bell Potter is tipping as a buy is Gentrack.
It provides billing, CRM, and utilities software. An example of its software in action that some readers may have seen is the arrivals/departures boards at Sydney Airport.
Bell Potter thinks that Gentrack is positioned to deliver strong earnings growth in the coming years for a number of reasons. It explains:
Gentrack develops, provisions, and integrates its billing/CRM platform into energy and water utilities, generating up-front project revenue (from deployments/integrations) that transitions into SaaS-type recurring revenue and embeds GTK within utility tech stacks long-term due to high switching costs. Demand for modern-day utilities billing solutions is growing rapidly due to dual tailwinds in (1) an evolving energy grid generating significant amounts of data and complexity in billing and customer management, and (2) legacy tech debt incurred from historical underinvestment in the utility billing stack.
The broker also highlights that Gentrack has a habit of upgrading and/or beating its guidance. It suspects this could happen again in 2025. It said:
GTK has a track record of upgrading and beating guidance, with the interim result in May likely to be the next catalyst potentially from lumpy, large contract wins in Southeast Asia. GTK appears expensive at ~90x/~56x FY25e/26e P/E however the valuation reflects high earnings leverage emerging, noting PEG ratios of ~1.2x and ~0.9x respectively.
Bell Potter currently has a buy rating and $13.90 price target on its shares.
IPD Group Ltd (ASX: IPG)
Another ASX stock that gets the seal of approval from Bell Potter is IPD Group.
It is a national distributor and service provider to the Australian electrical market.
Bel Potter sees IPD Group as a great way to play the electrification megatrend. It explains:
We view IPD Group as a high-quality play on electrification which has emerged as a dominant market narrative. The group mainly supplies electrical equipment designed to reduce the energy use of buildings, infrastructure, and transport sectors. 1H25e has seen IPD continue to grow and win market share, despite a soft commercial construction end market (IPD's core exposure) and recent project delays – in our view, highlighting the resilience and quality of the service proposition. IPD continues to investment ahead of the curve to capitalise on the potential of markets such as data centres and electric vehicle charging, with order and backlog growth (+50% in 1H25) early success factors.
And while a strong second half will be required to meet expectations, the broker highlights that the risk-reward is very attractive given its current valuation. It adds:
While we acknowledge IPD needs to pull-through a greater level of backlog in 2H25e to meet consensus estimates, on a P/E of ~15x we think risk-reward is compelling given the long-term growth potential.
Bell Potter has a buy rating and $5.30 price target on its shares.
