2 of the best ASX 200 shares to buy right now

These stocks look like strong buys to me.

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Key points

  • Guzman and Pinnacle are attractive investment opportunities, benefiting from recent share price declines and strong growth prospects.
  • Guzman y Gomez plans a significant expansion in Australia and internationally, targeting 1,000 Australian locations over the next two decades, and expects to increase profit margins substantially.
  • Pinnacle, amidst positive net inflows and profit growth, appears undervalued at 22x FY26's forecast earnings, following recent declines despite a robust investment strategy.

I've got my eyes on a few S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares to buy this month. They're businesses with a solid track record for growth, and I'm expecting them to become much larger in the coming years.

Short-term turbulence is a great time to invest in growing businesses if their long-term outlooks haven't changed.

Share prices are always changing, so there are opportunities regularly popping up. After the latest share price movements, the two ASX 200 shares below look very appealing, and I'm planning to invest in them later this month.

Guzman Y Gomez Ltd (ASX: GYG)

Guzman is a Mexican restaurant business with a significant portion of those locations having a drive-through option for customers.

At the end of FY25, the business had a total of 224 Australian GYG locations, comprising 81 corporate and 143 franchised locations. Over the next two decades, the company has a goal to reach 1,000 Australian locations. That's a long growth runway.

The business has also started growing in three other countries, which could allow for significant growth. In FY25, it had six corporate US restaurants, 21 franchised Singapore locations, and five Japan locations.

Guzman is growing at a fast rate across all countries. In FY25, Australian network sales grew 22%, Singaporean network sales rose 39%, Japanese network sales increased 15%, and US network sales rose 13%.

The ASX 200 share is building towards opening 40 restaurants per year in Australia, of which around 60% will be franchised, with the other 40% being corporate.

GYG says that as it grows, its corporate restaurant margin and the franchise royalty rate are expected to increase, while general and administration costs as a percentage of network sales are expected to decline.

The company is targeting Australian segment underlying operating profit (EBITDA) as a percentage of network sales of 10% in the next five years. This margin was 5.7% in FY25, so the business is expecting to become significantly more profitable in the coming years.

The Guzman y Gomez share price looks much cheaper after falling around 20% in the last six months.

Pinnacle Investment Management Group Ltd (ASX: PNI)

Pinnacle is an ASX 200 share heavily involved in the investment industry. It invests in a minority stake in leading fund managers and helps them grow by providing behind-the-scenes work so the fund manager can focus on investing.

Some of the fund managers it's invested in include Metrics, Pacific Asset Management, Life Cycle, Plato, Hyperion, Antipodes, Resolution Capital, Coolabah Capital, Aikya, Firetrail, and Five V.

Despite seeing net inflows of $23.1 billion and a 49% net profit growth in FY25, the Pinnacle share price has declined by nearly 20% from the start of August, as shown in the chart below.

With interest rates in Australia now lower and a good likelihood of further positive net flows in FY26, I think the Pinnacle share price is undervalued.

The Pinnacle share price is valued at just 22x FY26's estimated earnings, according to the forecast on Commsec. By helping its existing portfolio of managers grow and occasionally investing in new managers, I think this ASX 200 share has a very promising future.

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in Guzman Y Gomez. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Pinnacle Investment Management Group. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Pinnacle Investment Management Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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