Having a few blue chip ASX 200 shares in a portfolio is always a good idea.
That's because blue chips are usually strong companies that can be a great foundation on which to build a portfolio.
But which blue chips could be best buys right now with $3,000? Let's take a look at a couple that are on Bell Potter's Australian Equities Panel.
These are the broker's best ideas for the month and shares that it believes have the potential to offer attractive risk-adjusted returns over the long term. Here are two that make the panel this month:
Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)
The first blue chip ASX 200 share that could be a top buy is Goodman Group. It is a specialist global industrial property and digital infrastructure group.
The company owns, develops, and manages high-quality, sustainable properties that are close to consumers and provide essential infrastructure for the digital economy. This includes logistics centres and data centres.
Bell Potter believes that recent weakness has created a very attractive buying opportunity for investors. It said:
GMG presents an attractive opportunity, particularly following its recent pullback after the capital raise. The company is well-leveraged to data centres, a high growth sector that is driving a strong future development pipeline at higher margins. As a founder-led business, GMG benefits from experienced leadership with a proven track record of robust EPS growth. Trading at ~25x forward earnings with double-digit earnings growth projected over the next few years, we believe the current valuation offers good long-term value for investors.
James Hardie Industries plc (ASX: JHX)
Another ASX 200 blue chip share that Bell Potter highly recommends right now is James Hardie.
It is a global fibre cement manufacturer with operations in Australia, United States, and Europe.
The broker notes that as the leader in fibre cement with a ~90% US market share, it enjoys substantial pricing power and a strong brand. And with a structural shift to fibre cement happening in the US, Bell Potter believes the company is well-positioned for growth. It said:
In our view, JHX is poised for continued earnings expansion, driven by the structural shift towards fibre cement in the US. Households in the US continue to shift to fibre cement cladding from vinyl/timber, providing a multi-year runway for JHX's revenue and profit growth. Post JHX announcing its intent to purchase AZEK, the share price has fallen from ~25%. While debate still wages around the merits of the deal, we retain JHX in our focus list as we see upside from these levels.
