The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price has been a solid performer for shareholders over the long term and short term, as the chart below shows.

CBA is a highly-followed business in Australia as it’s the largest bank and one of the largest companies in Australia. It plays an important part in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) too.

Let’s take a look at how CBA has performed in the past six months. Of course, past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Good CBA share price performance

In the last six months, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia share price has risen by 14%. In the same time period, the ASX 200 dropped 0.3%, so CBA has outperformed significantly.

Of course, a return is decided by the ending price and the starting point. It started the six-month period at around $150, which was a relative low point of the past 12 months. While it’s up 14% in the last six months, it’s actually slightly down in the past year.

That means a $10,000 investment from six months ago is now worth $11,

What drove the ASX bank share?

In the short term, the CBA share price is affected by daily news events, such as developments in the Middle East. Changes in interest rates can also affect the share price, depending on investors’ views of its potential profitability.

But, in the longer-term it’s the ASX bank share’s profitability that will drive performance. The latest update from the bank was for the three months to 31 March 2026.

In that update, CBA reported cash net profit of around $2.7 billion, up 4% year over year. It also represented 1% growth compared to the quarterly average from the first half of FY26. For the period, CBA said operating income was flat, with benefits from lending and deposit volume growth.

Year over year, CBA’s business lending grew 12.5%, household deposits grew 9.1% and home lending increased 7.1%.

Excluding restructuring and notable items, the operating expenses grew by 1%, primarily due to higher cloud computing volumes, software licensing and investment in AI capabilities.

One of the key negatives for the business was the loan impairment expense of $316 million, with higher collective provisions, reflecting heightened geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty.  But it said the underlying portfolio credit remained solid.

Is the CBA share price a buy today?

Analysts certainly don’t seem to think this is a good time to invest. According to CMC Invest, there have been seven ratings on the business in the last three months, with all of those being a sell.

Sadly, the average price target is $120.51, suggesting a possible decline of around 30% from where it is today.

There could be plenty of better opportunities out there.

The post $10,000 invested in CBA shares 6 months ago is now worth… appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. 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.

Siteminder Ltd (ASX: SDR) shares have gone through a tough run, falling more than 50% since October 2025, as the chart below shows. I think the ASX share is now heavily undervalued for its long-term future and is one of Australia’s top shares.  

Siteminder provides software to help hotels around the world run their operations, analyse demand and room rates, and advertise their rooms.

It’s understandable investors are uncertain about what could happen next with the possibility of AI competition. At this price, I think the business’ ongoing rapid growth will help spur strong shareholder returns.

Strong revenue growth

One of the biggest drivers in deciding the returns of a business is how much revenue growth they can produce.

Revenue growth is the start of a financial flowchart that ends with the net profit.

In the FY26 half-year result, Siteminder reported total revenue growth of 25.5% to $131.1 million.

Subscription revenue grew 17.7% to $78.1 million thanks to property growth and average revenue per user (ARPU) expansion. It added 2,900 properties during the FY26 first-half, taking its total properties to 53,000 – it continues to target larger hotel properties.

On the transaction revenue growth side of things – which includes its new initiative smart platform contributions – the company saw revenue reach $53 million, up 39.1%.

It’s good to see there are various elements helping the business grow, which I think is a key sign for it being one of Australia’s top shares.

Big ambitions

One of the main factors that ultimately decides how big the returns can be is how large the company can become compared to what it is today. How much can the company grow its revenue? What is its total addressable market? What growth rate can it maintain?

Siteminder thinks it could grow its ARPU by five times if its existing customer base fully adopts its smart platform. The ASX share believes that AI can increase “pricing dynamism and distribution complexity”. Siteminder thinks it can capture a greater share of the market over time.

As its smart platform scales, management believe it positions Siteminder to accelerate towards its annual 30% revenue growth in the medium-term. I think any business growing revenue at that speed is worthwhile considering.

Rising profit margins

One of the most appealing things about a software business is how much operating leverage they have. In other words, they can deliver rising profit margins as they grow larger, allowing their net profit to soar. That’s a great sign of it being one of Australia’s top shares.

Time will tell how high the company’s profit margins can go, but the signs looked positive in the FY26 first half. The adjusted group gross profit margin improved 98 basis points to 67.8%, while the adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) more than doubled to $12.3 million and the adjusted net loss more than halved to $3.9 million.

Pleasingly, the adjusted free cash flow was positive, reaching $2.7 million compared to a $0.6 million loss in the first half of FY25.

In the coming years, I expect Siteminder’s net profit and cash flow to soar, which should hopefully justify a higher Siteminder share price.

The post A rare buying opportunity in 1 of Australia’s top shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in SiteMinder. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended SiteMinder. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended SiteMinder. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) shares closed in the red again on Wednesday afternoon. The shares ended the day down around 3% at $117.94 a piece.

The shares started rebounding in late-June and early-July but after peaking at $125.53 last week, the selloff resumed. 

The latest slide means the ASX biotech shares are now down around 31% over the year-to-date, and 55% lower than trading levels this time last year.

Why are investors selling off their CSL shares again?

There hasn’t been any price sensitive news out of CSL recently, but there has been a clear shift in sentiment towards a more cautious outlook.

It’s likely that the latest share price softening is the result of investors taking their gains off the table after the latest rally.

It looks like many investors are now looking forward to the company’s FY26 results announcement due next month. And are eager to see if there is any sign that management has improved operations since its latest disappointing update.

In May, CSL announced FY26 revenue guidance of around US$15.2 billion and NPAT of around US$3.1 billion. Both of these figures came in below market expectations.

The company also flagged expectations of another US$5 billion of non-cash impairments across FY26 and FY27.

My view on CSL‘s future

I think there is a lot of potential for CSL going forward. The business operates in a high-growth biotech market and its blood plasma division dominates the market for rare blood disorders and immunoglobulin products. 

Global demand for plasma therapies is expanding quickly, too. There is recurring demand for pharmaceutical therapies and limited competition, which means CSL can easily carve out a significant portion of the market.

I think that once CSL is able to turn around its financials, investor confidence will quickly follow. As for the immediate outlook, the share price increase over the remainder of 2026 will hinge on the company’s FY26 results, and whether the final figures meet or exceed expectations.

Do brokers still rate the biotech shares as a buy?

A few months ago, brokers were incredibly optimistic about the outlook for CSL shares, with the majority forecasting significant upside.

But now there has been a turnaround in expectations

Market Index data shows that the majority of brokers have now downgraded their rating on CSL to a hold. But the $131.15 average target price implies a potential 11% upside at the time of writing.

TradingView data also shows some analyst sentiment shifts. Out of 18 analysts, 10 now have a hold stance on the biotech company’s shares, and another eight have a hold or strong hold rating.

The average target price is a little higher at $138.88, which implies a potential 18% upside at the time of writing. 

The more bullish of the bunch think CSL shares could climb 68% to $197.85 over the next 12 months. Whereas more bearish brokers think there is potential for the shares to fall another 12% to $103.58 a piece, at the time of writing.

The post Down 55% in a year: Do brokers still rate CSL shares as a buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Samantha Menzies has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended CSL. 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.