Certain S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) shares on the ASX stock market have a lot of growth potential, in my opinion.
To generate the strongest shareholder returns, investors should focus on businesses that could grow significantly from their current position.
Sometimes, the market doesn't fully appreciate how much a business may grow over the years, so that mispricing can lead to outperformance for our portfolio.
With that in mind, I'm calling the two ASX 300 shares below exciting buys.
Guzman Y Gomez Ltd (ASX: GYG)
GYG is a Mexican food business with major aspirations. It currently has over 200 Australian locations, but it wants to reach at least 1,000 restaurants in the next two decades.
The ASX 300 share is growing network sales at an impressive rate. In the FY25 third quarter, total network sales grew by 23.6% year over year to $289.5 million, with Australian sales rising 23% to $267.6 million, Singapore sales increasing 34% to $16.6 million, Japan sales growing 23.5% to $2.1 million, and US sales rising 23% to $3.2 million.
But these sales are not just being driven by opening more restaurants – the existing restaurants are performing well. In the FY25 third quarter, the Australian, Singaporean, and Japanese comparable sales growth was 11.1%. I'd call that a strong growth rate.
The business doesn't need to win in the US to be an overall success – it's a very competitive market there. There are plenty of other countries that could make a lot of sense to expand to in time, such as the UK.
UBS expects GYG to reach $101 million of annual net profit after tax (NPAT) in FY29 and pay a dividend per share of 58 cents in that year.
Propel Funeral Partners Ltd (ASX: PFP)
Propel is the second-largest funeral provider in Australia and New Zealand. Considering that the Propel share price is down by more than 20% in 2025, I think this is an opportune time to invest in the ASX 300 share.
Funerals are a very defensive industry; sadly, a certain number of services are required each year.
The business is exposed to long-term tailwinds. According to Propel, the number of annual deaths is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.6% between 2025 and 2030 and then grow at a CAGR of 2.9% between 2031 and 2040. This could be a strong driver of revenue growth and profit.
Not only could the volume of funerals increase, but Propel is steadily seeing more growth in the funeral price, too. In the first half of FY25, the company's average revenue per funeral was $6,727, representing organic growth of 2.6% year over year, in line with inflation.
The business has demonstrated pleasing operating leverage. HY25 revenue grew by 12% to $115.2 million, and operating net profit increased by 21.1% to $12.2 million. I'm optimistic that its operating net profit margin can continue rising, too.
I think net profit can climb considerably over the next five to ten years.
