The Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) share price has fallen by a huge amount, it’s down by around 80% in the past year, as the chart below shows. I think the opportunity on offer makes it one of Australia’s top shares.

It’s rare for a growing business to fall by that much. Temple & Webster’s revenue may not grow in FY27, but it has a long history of delivering growth.

The current economic environment is tough for households, but I think it’s a rare situation and the decline could be a great time to take advantage.

Let’s run through why I think it’s a strong long-term buy today.

Great revenue opportunity

In its FY26 presentation, the company highlighted that the Australian furniture and homewares market is approximately $19 billion.

Adoption of online shopping has grown significantly since 2019. Over time, I expect Australia’s e-commerce rate to increase towards what’s seen in the UK and the US, which could help Temple & Webster’s market share.

At the latest measurement, Temple & Webster’s market share in Australian furniture and homewares reached 2.9%.

The company sells hundreds of thousands of products and more than half of its revenue is from exclusive products, with 83% of the top 500 selling products in FY26 being exclusive.

Temple & Webster regularly expands its private label range, giving the company more scope to capture more of the value of the sale. Currently, most products ship directly from suppliers to customers, giving Temple & Webster a capital-light business model and, in my view, making it one of Australia’s top shares.

Higher profit margins expected

In the coming years, I’m expecting the business to deliver rising profit margins.

The company is targeting $33 million to $40 million of operating profit (EBITDA) in FY27, while retaining flexibility to use its ‘delivered margin’ and marketing “levers” to respond to market conditions and drive revenue growth.

FY26’s EBITDA margin was 3.3%. The company expects the EBITDA margin to rise to between 5% to 6% in FY27 and reach at least 15% in the long-term.

To achieve that higher profit margin in the longer-term, it expects to achieve a delivered margin of more than 33% (it was 30.2% in FY26), a delivered margin after marketing costs of more than 22% (15% in FY26) and a contribution margin of more than 20% (13.4% in FY26).

If margins keep climbing towards those numbers, I think the company will go some way to justifying itself as one of Australia’s top shares.

Initiatives that should help include a lower fixed cost as a percentage of revenue (thanks to revenue growth), a company-wide approach to AI adoption to boost revenue and lower costs, and an ongoing review of potential cost savings or improved efficiencies.

Additional growth avenues

The third reason to like this business as one of Australia’s top shares is because of the company has found ways to expand its growth potential with additional revenue streams from home improvement, trade and commercial, and New Zealand sales.

In FY26, its home improvement segment saw revenue growth of 39% to $59 million, trade and commercial grew revenue by 16% to $56 million and New Zealand delivered approximately $3 million of revenue in its first eight months (running at a contribution breakeven level).

I don’t know what FY27 holds for those three segments, but I think the long-term looks very promising, particularly for home improvement with how there isn’t a dominant player in that retail sector.

I think it looks cheap now after falling about 80% over the past year, at the time of writing. I’d be very happy to buy Temple & Webster shares.

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

The fund manager Wilson Asset Management (WAM) has named a couple of leading S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share picks within the WAM Capital Ltd (ASX: WAM) portfolio.

WAM is looking for the most compelling undervalued growth opportunities in the Australian market. Typically, the investment team at WAM wants to find ideas with a catalyst that can boost the share price.

WAM Capital is a listed investment company (LIC) that is looking further down the market capitalisation list, rather than just the biggest names.

The Wilson Asset Management fund managers picked out a metal detection and communications company and a network-as-a-service provider, both of which contributed to portfolio outperformance during August 2026.

Let’s take a look at why the investment professionals like these businesses.  

Codan Ltd (ASX: CDA)

The first ASX 200 share highlighted by WAM was Codan, an Australian technology company that develops and manufactures metal detection and communications solutions.

The investment team highlighted that the Codan share price rose in September following a trading update in which the company upgraded its FY27 earnings expectations. Management noted stronger-than-expected demand across its communications segment.

Wilson Asset Management noted that conflict-affected regions were a major part of the uplift, accounting for approximately 50% of the FY27 first-half communications segment revenue, up from approximately 20% in the prior corresponding period.

WAM said the ASX 200 share’s metal detection segment also experienced a solid start to FY27, supported by recently launched products and a favourable gold price.

Wilson Asset Management’s investment team concluded its optimistic thoughts on the ASX share:

We remain confident in Codan’s medium-term growth outlook given its exposure to material spending tailwinds in defence globally.

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

The other ASX share that WAM highlighted was Megaport, a network-as-a-service provider focused on connectivity and compute infrastructure across global data centres.

The investment team noted that Megaport performed strongly amid several positive news stories in September.

Those developments included securing approximately $1 billion in new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure contracts and a subsequent upgrade to the guidance for the 2027 financial year.

The three new AI infrastructure agreements increased the company’s combined total strategic contract value to approximately $2.3 billion across the contracts announced since April 2026.

Wilson Asset Management said the company remains well-positioned to grow its customer base, supporting its strategy of reducing overall customer concentration risk.

The investment team concluded:               

We remain positive on the company’s ability to capitalise on growing demand for AI infrastructure.

The post A top fund manager is bullish on these ASX 200 shares 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 positions in and has recommended Megaport. 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.

I am fortunate enough to have built a very sizeable six-figure ASX share portfolio at 35.

It has taken a number of years of making good choices and putting money to work that has led to the financial position that I’m in today, as well as a dose of luck.

I’m very lucky to live in one of the best countries in the world, where there are various tools that help regular people grow their net worth.

There are plenty of countries that don’t have well-paid work, tax-efficient retirement savings, a reliable banking system, franking credits, reliable utilities, or huge quantities of valuable resources. Without many of those, I wouldn’t be sitting here with the portfolio I do have. Of course, those advantages Australians have are on a society-level. What we personally do is very important too.

In a moment, I’m going to outline three factors that my household has worked on in the last several years.

Before getting to what I’ve done, I just want to note that everyone is on their own financial journey with different starting points, income levels, family support, and so on. We’re not ‘racing’ other people, we’re just trying to get ahead of ourselves.

Think about your current financial picture – it’s the culmination of all the actions and decisions made up to this point. Almost any Australian can make a big difference to their wealth over the next decade.

Of course, having a 10% larger portfolio doesn’t mean I’ll be 10% happier or have fewer life responsibilities. But, building towards a goal is motivating, and having financial freedom would be a great position to be in.

Over the last ten years, I’ve diligently followed a step-by-step plan to help reach a six-figure ASX share portfolio. In the next decade, I hope to reach my financial goals by following the same plan. Let’s run through what I’m doing.

Save and earn

The core foundation of most households’ finances is the income they generate from their work, whether that’s as an employee, business owner, or in another form of work. My household’s finances are also driven by work earnings.

Our current financial position is the embodiment of the choices we make. What we do with money then decides how our financial picture evolves over the months and years.

How much we earn, how much we pay for the roof over our heads, the cost of the car (or public transport), the cost of the food we eat, and so on. It all counts.

If someone wants to improve their finances, then increasing earnings is one of the best things you can do. But try to ensure that lifestyle inflation doesn’t eat into the income gain. Some people may have an income problem, while some households may have a spending problem. Earning more could just mean having more to spend rather than putting it into building wealth.

The close-to-minimum-wage full-time job that I had when I first started renting was enough to pay for the essentials, save $200 per month into a savings account, and focus on free entertainment and activities. I just about made it work (with my partner), but we started with a savings mindset and always wanted to avoid debt in life (aside from a future mortgage).

Thankfully, with a growth mindset, investing in useful qualifications, and joining The Motley Fool writing team, my household income increased so that we could start saving a solid amount each month. Household income can come from any industry. Some of those savings went into investing in ASX shares.

Remember, it’s what we save rather than what we earn that ultimately decides how much we can invest each year.

Personal finances are the foundation of building wealth. Good foundations will help build wealth, while overspending or debt can be very problematic.

Invest in ASX shares and ETFs

Having money in a savings account is a good step. It generates interest income and can serve as an emergency fund when we need accessible money.

But, I don’t think interest alone is powerful enough to help grow wealth when inflation eats away at the value of a dollar.

I think shares are the best way to grow wealth because they can deliver capital growth, dividends, and dividend growth.

The compounding effects of the share market are much more powerful than savings accounts.

The investment that has added the most wealth to my net worth has been the investment conglomerate Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL), which has a great track record of delivering dividend growth and capital growth over the past three decades with its growing portfolio of assets.

There are plenty of quality exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that can help investors gain exposure to great businesses for a low cost, such as Vanguard MSCI Index International Shares ETF (ASX: VGS), VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (ASX: QUAL), or Betashares Global Quality Leaders ETF (ASX: QLTY).

Ultimately, I’m investing in things I think will perform well over five or ten years, not just the next six months or a year.

There’s no one right way to invest and grow wealth. I’ve gone for a mixture of ASX dividend shares and ASX growth shares. A lot of this website (including subscription services) is about choosing the right investments. Just pick something you could see yourself owning for five, ten, or even more years into the future, even if there’s uncertainty.

Think long-term

Compounding is a very powerful force that helps our investments grow in value over time. A $1,000 investment can double in value in eight years if it grows by 10% per year.

I’m not looking to trade in and out of ASX shares. I’m not thinking with a one-year investment time horizon.

Investing for the long term has allowed me to ignore short-term noise. It doesn’t matter what happens in 2026 if I’m investing with 2036 or 2046 in mind.

Heavy market sell-offs are painful in the moment. But, I’d view them as the worst time to sell and the best time to buy. I’d rather buy assets at lower prices than at higher prices. I regularly invest every month, but market declines get me more excited to invest.

Thankfully, my household was able to invest materially during the COVID volatility in 2020 and the inflation troubles of 2022 and 2023. If something else happens, I’ll invest heavily again and be greedy when others are fearful.

With a long-term goal of growing wealth and keeping the ‘why we’re doing it’ in mind, we’re steadily reaching our financial goals and I’d love to have a $1 million ASX share portfolio one day, though that’s still a long way away.

The post The 3 factors that have helped me build a six-figure ASX share portfolio at 35 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in VanEck Msci International Quality ETF and Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Company Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Vanguard Msci Index International Shares ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.