The team at Ord Minnett has been busy running the rule over a number of ASX 300 shares.
Two that have fared well and have been given buy ratings are named below. Here's what the broker is saying about them:
Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN)
Ord Minnett was pleased with news that this mining and mining services company has formed a joint venture with POSCO Holdings for its lithium assets.
It notes that the Korean giant will pay US$765 million (A$1.2 billion) in cash for a 30% stake in the joint venture. This values its remaining stakes in the Wodgina and Mt Marion operations at ~$4 billion, versus a consensus valuation of $2.8 billion previously.
It also implies a long-term spodumene price of US$1600 a tonne, which is comfortably above market expectations. Commenting on the ASX 300 share, the broker said;
Breaking the $4 billion down equates to around $20 per Mineral Resources share, up from the prior market valuation of $14 a share. Mineral Resources will still be the operator of Wodgina and Mt Marion as per current deals with US company Albermarle and Hong Kong-based Ganfeng Lithium, neither of which have any pre-emptive rights over the POSCO deal.
Post the deal, we make no changes to our FY26 EPS estimate, but our FY27 forecast falls 17.4% to incorporate the effect of the sale and our FY28 number rises 1.1%. We maintain a price target of $55.00 on Mineral Resources and reiterate our Buy recommendation.
As mentioned above, Ord Minnett has a buy rating and $55.00 price target on its shares. This implies potential upside of approximately 15% from its last close price.
Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (ASX: VGN)
Another ASX 300 share that Ord Minnett is positive on is airline operator Virgin Australia.
The broker was pleased to see the company reiterate its guidance for growth in revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK) of 3% to 5% in the first half of FY 2026. It notes that this is being "underpinned by strong demand and operational performance."
As a result, the broker has increased confidence in the company's outlook. It said:
The trading update gave Ord Minnett confidence the near-term outlook is sound, given Virgin's hedging program, which incorporates the jet fuel spread, means recent rising fuel prices will have little effect on FY26 earnings. Post FY26, we expect higher fuel costs will be mostly, but not all, offset by management of the RASK metric, i.e. some mix of higher ticket prices and reduced capacity.
Post the trading update, we have nudged our FY26 EPS estimate down 0.3%, while our FY27 and FY28 forecasts are cut by 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively, to incorporate the impact of fuel costs, which leads us to trim our target price to $4.00 from $4.10.
Ord Minnett has a buy rating and $4.00 price target on its shares. This implies potential upside of 32% for investors over the next 12 months.
