Buy, hold, sell: Goodman, Arafura Rare Earths, Elders shares

S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares are tumbling on Thursday, down 1.3% to 8,669 points.

Among the 11 market sectors, consumer staples is in the lead today, up 0.9%, while materials is down a hefty 3%.

Materials have been dragged lower by the major iron ore miners, including BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), down 3.2% to $62.81.

Let’s take a look at some new ratings for three ASX shares.

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

The Goodman share price is $31.13, down 1.9% on Thursday and up 6% over six months.

Morgans has a buy rating and $36 price target on the market’s largest ASX 200 real estate share.

The broker said: 

GMG’s 3Q26 update reinforced a deliberate strategy: deploy balance-sheet capital ahead of customer commitments to win the race for power-enabled metro data centre (DC) capacity.

The structurally important note was management’s view that industry DC capex requirements likely exceed global capital market funding capacity, a backdrop that favours those with secured power, sites and locked-in capital partners.

We partially reverse the discretionary discount applied in our March sector update (-10% to -5%) reflecting growing conviction in the capital-scarcity moat and peer pre-commit validation, noting that GMG’s own leading indicators have not yet inflected.

Arafura Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: ARU)

The Arafura Rare Earths share price is 28 cents, down 1.1% today and up 3% over six months.

Philippe Bui from Medallion Financial Group has a hold rating on this ASX 300 rare earths share. 

Bui said (courtesy The Bull):

The rare earths company is developing the Nolans Project in the Northern Territory — Australia’s first fully integrated ore-to-oxide NdPr (Neodymium-Praseodymium) operation, producing the critical input for electric vehicle motors and wind turbines.

With China controlling about 85 per cent of global processing and restricting exports, projects like Nolans are rare and strategically valuable.

The company just reached its final investment decision and recently received commitments under an institutional placement to raise $350 million.

Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD)

The Elders share price is $5.33, up 0.1% today and down 27% over six months.

John Athanasiou from Red Leaf Securities has a sell rating on this ASX 200 agriculture share.

Athanasiou said: 

The company’s exposure to agriculture, livestock and rural services make it highly sensitive to seasonal and commodity-driven swings.

While expansion through acquisitions has supported scale, it has also increased leverage, which, in our view, reduces balance sheet flexibility.

Without a clear cyclical upswing, the outlook remains challenging. Elders is exposed to elevated diesel prices, which remains a risk to the company’s cost base.

In our opinion, the stock offers limited defensive characteristics, making it more suitable as a sell than a hold at this stage of the cycle.

The post Buy, hold, sell: Goodman, Arafura Rare Earths, Elders shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Bronwyn Allen has positions in BHP Group. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goodman Group. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended BHP Group, Elders, and Goodman Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.