Buy, hold, sell: Aristocrat, James Hardie, and TechnologyOne shares

Morgans has given its verdict on these popular shares. Is it bullish, bearish, or something in between?

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Key points

  • Aristocrat Leisure has caught analysts' attention after recent share price weakness, with Morgans noting the gaming technology company delivered solid FY25 results despite some softness in its Interactive segment and North American operations.
  • James Hardie's latest quarterly update exceeded expectations, suggesting the challenging North American housing market may be stabilising after the building materials company navigated through acquisition missteps and earnings downgrades.
  • TechnologyOne's annual recurring revenue grew 18% to $554.6 million, keeping the enterprise software provider on track to meet its long-term growth targets even though the market reacted negatively to numbers that fell slightly short of expectations.

There are a lot of shares to choose from on the ASX 200 index.

To narrow things down for investors, let's see what analysts at Morgans are saying about these popular options.

Are they buys, holds, or sells? Let's find out.

Aristocrat Leisure Ltd (ASX: ALL)

This gaming technology company's shares could be good value according to Morgans. The broker recently upgraded them to a buy rating with a $73.00 price target.

Morgans thinks that recent share price weakness has created a buying opportunity for investors. Especially given its belief that there has been no structural shift in market dynamics. It explains:

Aristocrat Leisure (ALL) delivered a solid FY25 result, posting healthy yoy growth following the sale of Plarium and full inclusion of NeoGames. Headline numbers were broadly in line with both our and market expectations, though a few soft spots emerged beneath the surface. Interactive (online casino-style games) was weaker than expected and punished, given it's a smaller, faster growing segment, core to longer-term growth plans. Gaming Operations in North America (NA) were also soft, with only 4.1k net adds and lower-than-expected fee-per-day metrics weighing on performance.

Encouragingly, management expects the business to return to its normalised growth range moving forward. We see no structural shift in market dynamics and remain comfortable with the outlook. ALL reiterated its qualitative guidance for constant currency NPATA growth in FY26 (MorgansF: +10%). Following the result, our EPSA forecasts decrease ~6% across FY26-27F. Given recent share price weakness and a more compelling valuation, we upgrade ALL from Accumulate to Buy, with our 12-month target price reduced to $73 (from $77).

James Hardie Industries PLC (ASX: JHX)

Another ASX 200 share that the broker has been looking at is building materials company James Hardie.

A recent note reveals that a better than expected quarterly update has led to its analysts upgrading the company's shares to a buy rating with a $35.50 price target.

Commenting on the investment opportunity, Morgans said:

Whilst the headline 2QFY26 result was largely released in early Oct-25, the details and outlook were incrementally more positive than previously anticipated. Upgraded guidance reflects a c.6% organic decline (vs pcp), as a challenging environment sees volume declines exceed price increases. However, this is better than feared and may prove to be a bottoming in the cycle as demand stabilises.

JHX is trading on c.17.1x FY26F as the business navigates its acquisition missteps, earnings downgrades and a challenging consumer environment in North America (NA). However, at EPS of c.U$1.04/sh in FY26 we see upside from both earnings and an undemanding PER (ave PER. 20x). It is on this basis we upgrade to a BUY recommendation and $35.50/sh target price.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

Finally, this enterprise software provider just misses out on a buy rating. Morgans has an accumulate rating and $34.50 price target on its shares.

The broker believes the company is on track to deliver on its long term annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth targets despite slightly softer numbers in FY 2025. It said:

TNE's FY25 result was largely in line with our expectations with the group delivering, PBT growth of +19% to $181.5m ahead of its 13-17% guidance range, and in line with consensus. The negative share price reaction appears to have been driven by softer than expected ARR/NRR print, which saw a 2% miss to ARR growth expectations vs consensus, despite this, the group continues to deliver, with ARR of $554.6m (+18% YoY), which along with its NRR growth of 115% continues to see TNE On track to achieve its long-term ARR growth aspirations.

We modestly pare our EPS forecasts by 1-3% in FY26-28F. and move to an ACCUMULATE rating, with our target price $34.50 now reflecting a TSR of +19% following TNE's post result share price movement.

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Technology One. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Technology One. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Technology One. 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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