When it comes to investing, we all want to see brokers upgrading the ASX shares that we hold in our portfolios.
And in a perfect world, this is all that we would experience.
Unfortunately, the investing world isn't perfect and sometimes shares you own will cop a downgrade from brokers.
Two such ASX shares that have experienced exactly this from analysts at Morgans this week are named below. Let's see why the broker has just downgraded these shares:
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GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)
This fund manager released its quarterly update this month. While the broker sees a few positives from the update, the overall story remains somewhat negative with outflows continuing.
Combined with a poor investment performance, this has seen Morgans lower its medium-term earnings estimates for GQG Partners.
This has led to the broker downgrading GQG Partners' shares to an accumulate rating with a trimmed price target of $1.92. This implies potential upside of 13% for investors from current levels. It commented:
GQG has provided a March FUM update. Whilst GQG monthly outflows remained negative (-US$1.2bn), they did improve significantly on the February and January levels (-US$3.2bn and -US$4.2bn respectively), albeit it was a more difficult month for investment performance (-~US$9bn) – in line with market volatility. We lower our GQG FY26F/FY27F EPS by -5%-8% based on the reduced FUM levels detailed in the quarterly. Our PT is set at A$1.92 (previously A$2.03). We continue to see medium-term value in GQG, but with less upside to our PT we move from BUY to ACCUMULATE.
Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN)
Another ASX share that Morgans has downgraded this month is mining and mining services company Mineral Resources.
The broker made the move in response to negative weather impacts and higher cost assumptions due to inflation in shipping and fuel.
Morgans has cut its recommendation on Mineral Resources shares to an accumulate rating with a trimmed price target of $67.00. This implies potential upside of 14% for investors over the next 12 months. It commented:
We have updated our 2H26 forecasts to reflect weather impacts in 3Q26, which we expect to have a modest effect on Onslow iron ore shipments, alongside minor increases to cost and capex assumptions driven by inflation in shipping and fuel. We have also incorporated our revised LT iron ore price of US$85/t (previously US$80/t). Net these changes our target price moves to A$67ps (previously A$68ps) and we move to an ACCUMULATE rating (previously BUY) as recent share price strength has reduced valuation upside.
