Why Morgans rates these popular ASX shares as buys

There are so many ASX shares to choose from on the Australian share market, it can be hard to decide which ones to buy above others.

Luckily, the team at Morgans has been busy running the rule over a number of popular options recently.

Two that have fared well are named below. Here’s why the broker is bullish on these names:

James Hardie Industries plc (ASX: JHX)

Morgans is positive on the building products company following its second quarter update. It has a buy rating and $35.50 price target on its shares.

The broker highlights that the details and its outlook were incrementally more positive than previously anticipated and that the bottom of the cycle could be here. In light of this, it sees its current valuation as attractive for investors. It 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.

Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another ASX share that Morgans rates highly is data centre operator NextDC. It has a buy rating and $19.00 price target on its shares.

The broker was pleased with recent contract wins, which it believes support its medium term growth forecasts.

And given recent share price weakness, Morgans feels that now could be an opportune time to invest. It said:

NXT has announced that following recent customer contract wins, presumably including a large single customer contract win across multiple locations, its contracted utilisation has increased by 71MW to 316MW as at 1 December 2025. Further contract wins were, and remain in, our forecasts so this mostly underpins our expectations.

However, we upgrade our capex assumptions and lift our FY27/28 EBITDA forecasts by 5%. Our target price remains $19 per share. The share price has declined ~19% in the last three months and given a ~40% differential between the current share price and our $19 target price we upgrade our recommendation to BUY from ACCUMULATE.

The post Why Morgans rates these popular ASX shares as buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Nextdc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.