Customer trust can help investors gauge public sentiment for ASX 200 companies.
According to the Roy Morgan Brand Trust report, Bunnings is the most trusted brand in the 12 months to March 2025.
It is a sixth consecutive quarterly victory for the hardware retailer stretching back to late 2023.
Bunnings is not individually listed on the ASX. But investors can gain exposure to the company through the ASX 200 conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES).
Wesfarmers also owns and operates household names like Kmart, Target, and OfficeWorks.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine commented on the result for Bunnings.
Bunnings continues to ride high as Australia's most trusted brand in early 2025. However, there are rising challenges for the brand with distrust steadily rising since mind-2023.
The key factors driving the rise in distrust for Bunnings centre on concerns about the company's size and market dominance, excessive profit motives and unaffordable price increases and dishonesty – all topics covered in the recent Four Corners program which focused in on Australia's leading hardware retailer.
It would seem Wesfarmers' share price growth has been aligned with customer sentiment in Bunnings.
Its share price has increased a whopping 28.63% over the last year. It is also up 101.63% over the last 5 years.
Is Wesfarmers a buy?
In an announcement last week, Morgans reinforced its belief that Kmart and Bunnings have further room for to grow.
The Motley Fool's Tristan Harrison also reported last week that the company has delivered consistent growth. He expects this to continue, particularly due to the company's growth potential with Kmart's Anko products.
Falling interest rates could also be a positive boost for earnings.
Which companies rose the furthest?
Other than Bunnings retaining its top spot, the research also revealed which companies are growing in customer trust.
There were two big movers in the overall rankings for ASX 200 companies.
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) which increased by a massive 112 places to 48th.
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) was up an impressive 93 positions to 66th overall.
According to the report, ASX 200 blue-chip holdings JB Hi Fi Ltd (ASX: JBH), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) also improved their rankings.
The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor surveys approximately 2,000 Australians every month (around 25,000 per year). It measure levels of trust and distrust of around 1,000 brands across 27 industries.
It's important for investors to also consider these results simply measure customer trust. This can be a useful tool to gauge a wider perspective of a company, but it measures consumer trust, not investor trust. Essentially, the results don't consider financial performance, dividends etc.
