It was another busy week for Australia's top brokers. This has led to the release of a number of broker notes.
Three broker buy ratings that you might want to know more about are summarised below. Here's why brokers think these ASX shares are in the buy zone:
Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL)
According to a note out of Bell Potter, its analysts have retained their buy rating on this gaming technology company's shares with a slightly reduced price target of $79.00. Although Aristocrat delivered a softer than expected half year result last week, Bell Potter remains positive. This is because it believes most of the factors driving the company's earnings miss are isolated to the first half. As a result, it thinks Aristocrat is positioned to deliver a strong second half result. It also continues to expect the company's leading R&D investment to drive market share gains. An example of this is its Phoenix Link game, which is growing at record levels. The Aristocrat share price ended the week at $62.86.
Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)
A note out of UBS reveals that its analysts have upgraded this integrated industrial property company's shares to a buy rating with a $36.00 price target. UBS thinks that the market has been too negative on Goodman's data centre plans. It feels that there will be strong demand for its sizeable 5GW pipeline. In addition, the broker sees major upside potential for Goodman's shares if data centre demand from artificial intelligence and cloud computing underpins even stronger demand than its planned capacity can cater to at present. The Goodman share price was fetching $31.82 at Friday's close.
JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX: JBH)
Analysts at Bell Potter have also retained their buy rating on this retail giant's shares with an improved price target of $114.00. According to the note, the broker believes that JB Hi-Fi deserves to trade on higher multiples. It notes that this follows a 10% to 15% re-rate in some of the high productivity global retailers which it considers as close comparables for JB Hi-Fi. Outside this, Bell Potter believes that the company's trajectory is well supported by its market leadership in the technology category that continues to win a larger wallet share. It also highlights that the retailer is one of the most productive globally with a leading revenue per sqm metric and operating margin. The JB Hi-Fi share price ended the week at $102.83.
