Buy, hold, sell: Breville, CSL, and EOS shares

Are these popular shares worth adding to your portfolio? Here's what one leading broker thinks.

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Ord Minnett has been busy updating its financial models and recommendations for a number of ASX shares following the release of results and updates this month.

Let's see what the broker is saying about the three popular shares named below:

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Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG)

Ord Minnett was pleased with this appliance manufacturer's performance during the first half of FY 2026. It highlights that risks have reduced materially after it successfully navigated its manufacturing transition in response to US tariffs.

The broker believes this leaves it well-placed to return to strong earnings growth in FY 2027. As a result, it has upgraded its shares to an accumulate rating (from hold) with a $37.20 price target. It said:

Breville posted flattish first-half FY26 earnings but performance was a solid achievement in the face of significant US tariff headwinds. Having largely navigated its manufacturing transition, execution risks have diminished materially. The company is well-positioned to return to double-digit earnings growth beginning in FY27.

In terms of outlook, the company expects a modest increase in earnings before interest and tax in FY26. Such guidance appears prudent to us given residual risk from the impact of tariffs and the transition to new manufacturing facilities. Overall, as transitional pressures subside, we forecast a return to double-digit earnings growth in FY27, and upgrade our recommendation to Accumulate from Hold.

CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL)

This biotech giant disappointed Ord Minnett with its half-year results due to the underperformance of the key CSL Behring business. It said:

CSL posted first-half FY26 net profit short of market expectations, driven by weak revenue growth at its dominant Behring plasma products division that erased the benefits of better-than-expected revenue from its Seqirus vaccine and Vifor nephrology businesses. The soft result capped a horror couple of days for the beleaguered biotech – its shares slumped 4.6% after the result, taking its two-session slide since the bungled announcement of CEO Paul McKenzie's exit to more than 9%.

‍And while CSL has reaffirmed its guidance for FY 2026, Ord Minnett appears doubtful that this will be achieved. In response, it has retained its hold rating with a reduced price target of $198.00. It explains:

‍The company reiterated guidance for FY26 net profit growth of 4–7% on a constant-currency basis, although Ord Minnett notes this implies an earnings bias to the second half of 56%, versus a comparable 34% skew recorded in FY25. Post the result, we have cut our EPS estimates by 3.0%, 2.2% and 3.0% for FY26, FY27 and FY28, respectively, which, combined with currency effects, leading us to cut our target price to $198.00 from $217.00.

Cost performance has improved significantly as CSL's business restructuring plans are implemented but revenue growth is still proving hard to come by, and the CEO's exit adds a degree of difficulty to the biotech's outlook. Despite the apparent upside on offer, Ord Minnett will need more evidence of top-line growth and margin expansion before we can become more constructive on CSL. As a result, we maintain our Hold recommendation.

Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd (ASX: EOS)

This ASX defence stock was hit with a short seller attack this month and Ord Minnett was pleased with management's response.

In light of this, it has retained its speculative buy rating with a price target of $12.92. It said:

EOS has responded to the short-selling attack by US group Grizzly Research with a counter attack of their own, describing the Grizzly report as "misleading, manipulatory and pejorative." Ord Minnett notes that while EOS produced enough data and credible explanation to counter the Grizzly report, their response still leaves questions around the $120 million conditional Korean High Energy Laser Weapon (HELW) contract. The response did provide greater clarity around existing contracts, including confirmation that the $33 million General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) contract signed late last year was for the new US M1E3 Abrams tank.

Fortuitously, during the trading halt period, the White House tweeted a picture of the new Abrams tank sporting an EOS Remote Weapons System (RWS). Despite the recent upheaval, our investment thesis of increasing geopolitical tensions and defence expenditure on C-UAS, RWS, HELW and Space remains unchanged. As such, we maintain our Speculative Buy recommendation on EOS.

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in CSL. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL and Electro Optic Systems. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended CSL. 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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