Many of Australia's top brokers have been busy adjusting their financial models and recommendations again. This has led to the release of a number of broker notes this week.
Three ASX shares that brokers have named as buys this week are listed below. Here's why their analysts are feeling bullish on them right now:
Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL)
According to a note out of Bell Potter, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $83.00 price target on this gaming technology company's shares. The broker highlights that Aristocrat's Phoenix Link game has grown to 750 units in the Eilers & Krejcik (EK) database after just four months, with performance strong at 2.5x floor average although trending down. It notes that the game is growing at record pace and is on track to exceed the install base growth of the combined top 3 contributors (Dragon Link, Lightning Dollar Link and Jackpot Carnival) in FY 2023. Bell Potter believes this is ahead of the market expectations, which could signal possible consensus upgrades to FY 2025 estimates. The Aristocrat share price is trading at $66.59 on Wednesday.
Gentrack Group Ltd (ASX: GTK)
Another note out of Bell Potter reveals that its analysts have retained their buy rating on this utilities focused software company's shares with a trimmed price target of $13.50. Its analysts highlight that they are bullish on Gentrack's ability to maintain customer win momentum in both the ROW and Core markets. Bell Potter points out that its customer win momentum is being underpinned by rapidly shifting energy consumption and production trends, driving increased complexity within the grids which is challenging legacy billing software platforms. And while it notes that there is some risk to FY 2025 forecasts relating to the phasing of contract wins and revenue recognition, it expects any pushed back revenues will be captured in FY 2026. The Gentrack share price is fetching $9.93 at the time of writing.
HMC Capital Ltd (ASX: HMC)
Analysts at Goldman Sachs have retained their buy rating on this alternative asset management company's shares with a trimmed price target of $10.90. Goldman notes that HMC Capital is now tracking operating earnings per share of 70 cents in FY 2025. This is down from 80 cents per share previously. However, it remains positive and see a lot of value in its shares. Goldman likes the company due to its FUM growth strategy and diversification away from classic Real Estate and into Digital Infrastructure, among various other strategies including Energy Transition and Private markets. The HMC Capital share price is trading at $6.04 this afternoon.
