Sometimes the best opportunities on the ASX are found not in the stocks everyone is talking about but in the ones everyone has given up on.
Three ASX shares in particular have been punished heavily in 2026.
Each carries near-term risk.
But each also has a broker prepared to make the case for meaningful upside over the next twelve months.
Here is what they are saying.
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Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)
Flight Centre Travel Group has fallen significantly year to date and trades near six-year lows.
The market has been pricing in the worst: Middle East conflict disrupting leisure travel, a $10 million profit hit in April from cancellations, and elevated fuel costs weighing on corporate travel margins.
Yet beneath the noise, the underlying business keeps delivering.
Total transaction value for the nine months to March 2026 rose 7.6% to $19.5 billion.
Corporate travel continues to grow at record pace.
Management reaffirmed full-year FY2026 underlying profit guidance of $315 million to $350 million at the Macquarie Conference in early May.
Macquarie retains an outperform rating on Flight Centre shares with a price target of $17.95, implying significant upside from today's price.
The broker also notes that 13 of 13 analysts covering Flight Centre carry buy ratings, with an average 12-month target of $15.89.
Cochlear Ltd (ASX: COH)
Cochlear has had one of the most devastating years of any large-cap ASX stock in living memory.
Cochlear shares are down approximately 63% over the last twelve months after the company delivered a 30% earnings downgrade on 22 April.
The company cited hospital capacity constraints, reduced referral activity, and foreign exchange headwinds.
However, the fundamental demand picture has not changed.
Cochlear holds approximately 50% global market share in cochlear implants in a market with just 3% penetration of an addressable patient population exceeding six million people in developed markets alone.
Investors should note that surgeries are being delayed, not cancelled.
Jarden carries a price target of $169 on COH shares, implying upside of approximately 68% from today's price of approximately $100.50.
Wilsons Advisory has initiated a buy recommendation, describing the current valuation as an attractive entry point ahead of earnings acceleration.
The consensus analyst price target sits at approximately $232, implying significant upside for investors with the patience to wait for the recovery.
DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO)
DroneShield is a very different kind of opportunity from the other two.
Rather than a beaten-down blue chip, Droneshield is a high-growth defence technology company that has simply pulled back sharply from extraordinary highs.
The stock hit an all-time high of $6.71 in October 2025 and today trades much lower than that, having shed approximately half its peak value.
Yet the operational performance remains impressive.
In Q1 2026, DroneShield delivered record customer cash receipts of $77.4 million, up 360% on the same period a year earlier.
The company holds $222.8 million in cash, zero debt, and a sales pipeline of $2.2 billion spanning 312 projects across more than 60 countries.
Bell Potter retains a buy rating on DRO shares with a price target of $4.80, stating:
We believe DRO has a market leading RF detect/defeat C-UAS offering and a strengthening competitive advantage owing to its years of battlefield experience and large and focused R&D team. We expect 2026 will be an inflection point for the global C-UAS industry with countries poised to unleash a wave of spending on RF detect and defeat solutions.
Foolish takeaway
Flight Centre, Cochlear, and DroneShield have each been sold down for reasons that are partly legitimate and partly an overreaction.
None of them is a certainty.
And all three carry meaningful near-term risk.
However, the broker community is clearly more optimistic about all three ASX shares than the market currently is.
For long-term investors, that divergence is worth paying close attention to.
