The start of a new year is often a natural time for investors to reset, reassess, and look ahead to where the next opportunities might emerge.
While nobody can predict short-term market movements, a mix of stabilising economic conditions, easing inflation pressures, and accelerating digital transformation could create fertile ground for select ASX stocks.
With that in mind, here are two Australian shares that look particularly interesting to watch as the new year gets underway.
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Light & Wonder Inc (ASX: LNW)
Light & Wonder enters 2026 as a very different company to the one investors knew just a few years ago.
Following its strategic transformation away from traditional lotteries, the business is now a focused global gaming and digital entertainment group. It operates across land-based gaming machines, online real money gaming, and social casino platforms, giving it exposure to multiple growth avenues within the global gaming industry.
A key attraction is the company's increasing emphasis on recurring and digital revenues. Its content portfolio continues to perform strongly across casinos worldwide, while its digital division benefits from the structural shift toward online gaming and mobile-first entertainment.
If management continues to execute well and digital earnings expand as expected, Light & Wonder could be well positioned for further growth as 2026 unfolds.
UBS is bullish on the company. It recently put a buy rating and $206.00 price target on Light & Wonder's shares. This implies potential upside of approximately 30% for investors in 2026.
Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)
Megaport is another ASX stock worth keeping a close eye on in the year ahead.
The company operates a global software-defined networking platform that allows businesses to instantly connect their infrastructure to leading cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. As enterprises increasingly adopt multi-cloud and hybrid IT strategies, demand for fast, flexible, and secure connectivity continues to grow.
While Megaport has faced share price volatility in recent years, its underlying business metrics have improved markedly. The company has been focused on driving operating leverage, improving margins, and moving toward sustained profitability.
If cloud adoption trends continue and Megaport delivers on its execution goals, 2026 could mark an important turning point for the business. Especially given its recent acquisition of Latitude.sh, which is a global, automated infrastructure platform delivering compute-as-a-service. This has expanded its total addressable market materially.
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) thinks that Megaport is an ASX stock to buy now. It has an outperform rating and $21.70 price target on its shares. This suggests that upside of approximately 80% is possible from current levels.
