Yesterday, Adairs Ltd (ASX: ADH) shares fell 1.3% following a trading update.

The homewares and home furnishings retailer has now seen its share price fall by 18% for the year to date. 

This has reflected broader sector wide headwinds for consumer discretionary shares. The sector has been hit hard by high interest rates and inflation. 

What did the company announce?

As my colleague Aaron Teboneras reported yesterday, Adairs announced it expects FY26 group sales to land between $640 million and $641.5 million.

At the midpoint, this represents an increase of 3.7% on FY25.

However, group underlying EBIT is expected to come in between $53.5 million and $55.5 million. This would be down 1.3% on FY25.

This put a halt to the positive momentum it had felt over the past month. Subsequently, the team at Bell Potter has provided updated guidance on Adairs shares for the next 12 months. 

Here is the broker’s updated view. 

Slightly below expectations

Bell Potter said Adairs’ FY26 trading update was slightly below market expectations on revenue (around 1%).

The core Adairs brand was the standout performer. It delivered 3% sales growth from late February to June and stronger margins following product range improvements under the new management. This helped offset weaker performance at Focus on Furniture.

Mocka (an online furniture and homewares retailer owned by Adairs) performed largely as expected. Meanwhile, Focus on Furniture continued to face pressure from increased competition and its ongoing turnaround under new leadership.

Following the update, Bell Potter has lifted its assumptions for the core Adairs business but now expects Focus on Furniture to remain loss-making in the second half of FY26 and continue to weigh on earnings in coming years. 

The broker forecasts modest group growth of 2.6% in revenue and 1.8% in EBIT, supported by foreign exchange benefits in FY27 and healthy inventory levels. 

As a result, Bell Potter increased its FY26 NPAT forecast by 16%, while reducing FY27 and FY28 forecasts by 5% and 8%, respectively.

Minimal upside

Based on this guidance, Bell Potter slightly increased its target price on Adairs shares to $1.45 (previously $1.40). 

It retained its hold recommendation. 

Despite raising its target, it appears Adairs shares are trading close to fair value, after closing yesterday just above Bell Potter’s target price. 

With the positive customer response to the range curation efforts at Adairs continuing to play out from the CY25 peak to the 4Q26 seasonal period and appears to be maintained into FY27, we attribute successful management strategy. 

However, our views on the recovery timeline at FoF in a highly competitive near-term value furniture market sees us remaining cautious over the next 12 months considering the current transition phase at ADH.

The post Are Adairs shares a buy, hold or sell after their trading update? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Bell 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 Adairs. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Adairs. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

This ASX healthcare share has finally come back to earth.

4DMedical Ltd (ASX: 4DX) shares fell 7% to $4.10 during Wednesday’s session, extending a sharp pullback that has now left the stock about 46% below the record highs reached in April.

Before anyone panics, though, it’s worth zooming out. This ASX healthcare share is still up an astonishing 1,528% over the past 12 months. Yes, that’s more than fifteen-fold in a year.

But here’s the catch: 4DMedical isn’t a tiny speculative medical technology company anymore. With a market capitalisation of roughly $2.6 billion, investors are already betting on a business that becomes much, much larger.

So where does it go from here?

Solving a real problem

The story behind this ASX healthcare share isn’t just hype.

4DMedical has developed advanced respiratory imaging technology that shows how lungs actually function rather than simply what they look like.

Using proprietary software and artificial intelligence, its technology creates detailed functional images that can help doctors diagnose and monitor respiratory diseases far more effectively than traditional imaging.

That’s a powerful proposition in a world increasingly embracing AI-driven healthcare.

Company keeps expanding its opportunity

This ASX healthcare share hasn’t been sitting still. One of management’s biggest recent moves was acquiring Austrian imaging specialist Contextflow.

The deal immediately strengthened 4DMedical’s presence in Europe, added lung cancer screening capabilities and provided access to existing reimbursement pathways in Germany.

Management believes the acquisition expands its addressable market by around 50%. That’s no small upgrade. Instead of being an emerging Australian medical technology company, 4DMedical is steadily building the foundations of a global imaging business.

Major scalp in the US

The United States remains the biggest prize for this ASX healthcare share. Recently, the company signed a major agreement with SimonMed, one of America’s largest outpatient imaging providers with more than 170 imaging centres.

The partnership supports the rollout of 4DMedical’s CT:VQ lung imaging technology across a substantial healthcare network. Even more importantly, the company believes these initiatives could expand its US addressable market for CT:VQ to around US$3 billion.

If adoption continues gathering pace, that’s a very large runway.

Where to from here?

Success creates a funny problem. The better this ASX healthcare share performs, the higher the expectations become.

After last year’s extraordinary rally, investors are no longer rewarding exciting stories alone. They want evidence of growing revenue, expanding reimbursement coverage and increasing commercial adoption.

The Contextflow acquisition also needs to deliver on its promise.

Any slowdown in customer adoption or execution could trigger more volatility, particularly after such an enormous share price run.

The next chapter now depends less on headlines and more on execution. If 4DMedical continues converting clinical success into commercial wins, today’s speed bump could eventually look like just another pit stop on a much longer journey.

The post This red-hot ASX healthcare share hit a speed bump. What next? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Marc Van Dinther 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.

Consumer staples shares have performed strongly in 2026 as investors have pushed towards defensive options.

The S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Staples Index (ASX: XSJ) has risen 13% year to date. 

This has far outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is up just 0.66% in the same span. 

Despite the sector performing well, ASX consumer staples stock Select Harvests Ltd (ASX: SHV) is down significantly year to date. 

However, a new report from Bell Potter has indicated it could be set for a strong rebound. 

Company overview

Select Harvests is an integrated grower, processor and marketer of almonds, owning and operating farming and processing assets in Australia. 

It offers a vertically integrated model with core capabilities in farming, processing and marketing.

The company operates a diversified portfolio of almond orchards as well as a state-of-the-art processing facility in Carina VIC (with capacity to process 50,000t of almonds).

In 2026, the stock has fallen 20%, however Bell Potter’s latest guidance indicates it could recover in the next 12 months. 

Here’s what the broker had to say. 

Production maintained

Bell Potter said in yesterday’s report that the recent weakness in this ASX consumer staples stock is not supported by improving almond market fundamentals. 

Global almond prices have risen 11% year-on-year, while a weaker Australian dollar has lifted implied Californian almond prices to A$10.55-10.60/kg. 

This is above SHV’s 1H26 pricing assumption of A$10.21/kg.

Despite Select Harvest shares falling around 20% since the start of 2026, the company has maintained FY26 production guidance of 28,000–31,000 tonnes, which aligns with its expected theoretical production of around 29,000 tonnes. 

Bell Potter believes this suggests the market is overly focused on past operational issues rather than current fundamentals.

Taking into account the company’s foreign exchange hedge position, stronger-than-expected almond price trends, and benchmark market performance, Bell Potter sees upside risk to the company’s 1H26 almond price assumption. 

If current market prices persist, realised prices could be closer to A$10.50–10.60/kg, providing potential upside to earnings and the share price.

Strong upside in tact for consumer staples stock

Based on this guidance, Bell Potter has retained its buy recommendation and $5.30 price target. 

From current levels, this indicates an upside potential of 35%. 

SHV has had a series of disappointing results in recent years, however, the fundamental drivers of the business are improving – almond prices are rising, crop input prices (fertiliser and ag-chem) have weakened from the highs and forward year water lease coverage has improved.

The post Why this could be the best buy in the consumer staples sector right now: Expert  appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Aaron Bell 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.