Looking for some new additions to your portfolio?
If you are, it could be worth look at the two ASX 200 shares listed below from very different sides of the market.
Here's why the team at Ord Minnett thinks they could be top buys:
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NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The first ASX 200 share that could be a buy is data centre operator NextDC.
Ord Minnett has been impressed with recent contract wins and highlights its strong earnings growth outlook. This includes a forecast 40% increase in earnings in FY 2027. It said:
NextDC announced contract wins for another 16 megawatts (MW)of IT capacity, taking its total contracted utilisation to 244MW, with the largest increase coming from its Kuala Lumpur project (KL1) in Malaysia, which is scheduled to go live in early 2026. The 10MW contract at KL1 was won from an unnamed hyperscaler, i.e. companies such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure that provide large-scale cloud-computing services.
Incorporating the additional revenue from KL1 and a faster revenue conversion from the Melbourne centres drives a modest $10 million upgrade in our forecast for FY27 operating earnings to $321 million. It is worth noting, however, that this outcome still implies an almost 40% year-on-year increase from FY26. Our FY28 estimates are unchanged at this time.
Ord Minnett has a buy rating and $18.00 price target on its shares. This implies potential upside of 30% for investors over the next 12 months.
Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO)
Another ASX 200 share that analysts are bullish on is Rio Tinto. It is of course one of the world's largest miners producing iron ore, aluminium, copper, and other minerals such as lithium.
Ord Minnett notes that Rio Tinto has held firm with its guidance for the key Oyu Tolgoi operation despite recent licencing issues. It said:
Rio Tinto has maintained guidance for copper output from the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia despite licencing issues leading it to suspend development of a section the giant copper and gold mine and reconsider its timeline for development. […] Entrée, Rio Tinto and the Mongolian government are working on completing the licence transfers so the JV areas can be mined, but work on the Hugo North Lift Panel 1 (P1) section has been paused for the moment. Instead, Rio Tinto will accelerate development of the Panel2 South (PS2) section to compensate for lost copper production from P1.
In Ord Minnet's view, the changes to the development plan will be limited in the broader scheme of project, given similar ore grades and only minor capital expenditure so far given work at P1 had only just started. This leads us to make no changes to our estimates or valuations, although the sometimes fractious relationship with the Mongolian government over taxation, capital contributions and the licence delays will need to be monitored.
The broker has responded by retaining its buy rating and $126.00 price target on the ASX 200 share. This suggests that upside of 16% is possible from current levels.
