Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB) shares have been volatile over the last year. 

The ASX 200 healthcare stock has fluctuated between lows of $1.52 per share and highs of $3.35. 

In the last month, it is up 23%. 

These massive swings can make it difficult for investors to pinpoint fair value. 

The company works in clinical-stage biotechnology. It develops and commercialises allogeneic cellular medicines to treat complex diseases resistant to conventional standards of care.

This includes recently FDA approved product RYONCIL. It is the first FDA-approved donor-derived cell therapy that doctors can use immediately to treat children and teens who develop a severe, steroid-resistant complication after a transplant.

Yesterday, The Motley Fool’s Marc Van Dinther covered the company may be close to more regulatory breakthroughs in the US. 

Broker Bell Potter has also weighed in with updated guidance on Mesoblast shares, saying this progress towards commercial launch and monetisation is a key value driver.

Here’s what the broker had to say. 

2025 a banner year 

The broker said 2025 has already been a banner year for Mesoblast. This began with the late December 2024 FDA approval for Ryoncil, quickly followed by a highly successful commercial launch.

This was facilitated by universal medicare coverage from 1 July 2025 and capped off by a product specific J code from 1 October – practically guaranteeing reimbursement for any hospital seeking reimbursement for on label use. 

Not surprisingly this virtual guarantee on reimbursement has driven exponential growth in December quarter sales.

Mesoblast is guiding to gross revenues of at least US$30m (vs $21.9m for 1Q FY26), a near 50% increase.

Long term outlook from Bell Potter

Bell Potter also highlighted the long term exclusivity that Mesoblast has. 

Ryoncil has 7 years exclusivity from launch in paediatric GvHD and 12 years before any biosimilar (using an MSC) may emerge. The exclusivity period should extend beyond 2037 based on the remaining life of composition of matter and method of use patents.

The broker said based on the growth evident at this point, the market is witness to the birth of the new standard of care for the treatment of inflammation and cytokine release syndrome associated with the graft vs host disease.

Speculative buy for Mesoblast shares

The team at Bell Potter has reiterated its speculative buy recommendation on Mesoblast shares. 

It also has a $4.00 price target on the healthcare stock. 

This indicates an upside of almost 42% from yesterday’s closing price of $2.82. 

Elsewhere, TradingView has a 12 month target price of $4.25 (more than 50% upside). 

Online brokerage platform Selfwealth lists Mesoblast shares as undervalued by 26%. 

The post How much further upside is there for Mesoblast shares after soaring 23% in a month? 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.

One of the hardest hit S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares over the past year has been James Hardie Industries plc (ASX: JHX) After such a heavy fall, it’s definitely worth looking into whether the James Hardie share price should be viewed as an opportunity.

One of the fund managers that is invested in the construction materials business is L1.

L1 noted that while the James Hardie share price declined by 6% in November 2025, the business did see a rally of around 20% from the lows in early November, as shown in the chart below.

The decline of the James Hardie share price occurred following the announcement of an unexpected deletion, as the business saw its CDIs being deleted from the MSCI Australia Indices.

The surprise removal led to more than 10% of its shares on issue needing to be sold by passive share investors.

L1 decided to take advantage of that sell-off in early November to increase its shareholding near the lows of around $26 per share. The fund manager attributed that recovery during the month to an update in its full-year earnings guidance with its second-quarter earnings update. L1 also said the James Hardie share price recovered following the completion of the index transition in late November, ending the month at a value of around $30 per share.

In that quarterly update, James Hardie revealed that net sales rose by 34% to $1.29 billion, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 25% to $329.5 million, operating net profit sank 84% to $24 million and statutory net profit declined 167% to a loss of $55.8 million.

The net sales growth was primarily due to the US acquisition called AZEK. Organic net sales declined by 1%.

Is the current James Hardie share price a buy right now?

The fund manager noted that the outlook in the US remains uncertain, with consumers exercising caution and ‘housing starts’ remaining subdued.

The fund manager believes that the impacts are “transitory” and should improve over the next 12 to 18 months, with interest rates expected to decline. Consumer confidence is also projected to improve from here.

L1 believes that James Hardie, together with the recently acquired US business Azek, remains a “secular market share gainer in attractive industry verticals within the building products industry.”

The fund manager suggests that it continues to see further upside from the current James Hardie share price.

The post After falling 47% in a year, is the James Hardie share price a buy? 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.

If you are wanting exposure to the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, then there is a new option on the ASX that you may want to get better acquainted with.

That ASX AI stock is Black Pearl Group Ltd (ASX: BPG).

This recently listed data technology platform company provides AI driven sales and marketing solutions to small-medium sized businesses in the North American market.

The company’s solutions are powered by its private data platform, Pearl Engine, and proprietary large language model (LLM).

Bullish broker

The team at Bell Potter has been running the rule over the ASX AI stock and likes what it sees. It said:

Blackpearl Group is a data technology platform that develops and operates a lead prospecting and marketing product suite via its proprietary Pearl Engine platform and augmented large language model developed by BPG in 2022. BPG transforms anonymous, unstructured web visits and data layers into identifiable prospects to significantly increase efficacy for SME ad/marketing spend by targeting prospects with a high intent to buy. BPG’s evolution from legacy email branding/engagement tracking has grown ARR from $4.6m in 2Q24 to $19.5m as at 2Q26 at a CAGR of 106%.

The broker believes that Black Pearl Group is well-positioned for growth in the coming years and expects it to achieve its medium term annualised recurring revenue (ARR) target. It adds:

We forecast BPG to hit $50m ARR by 3Q31, consistent with BPG’s 3-5 year targeted horizon (BPe: 4.7years), from: (1) Evolution of Pearl Diver/Engine into wholesale, Data-as-a-Service, and Platform-as-a-Service solutions capable of penetrating the advertising agency market; (2) Acquisition of Nth. Am. agentic AI platform, B2BRocket, which is expected to grow to $10m ARR by mid-2Q27 (2Q26: ~$4.7m); (3) Driving adspend efficiencies in budget-constrained segments by eliminating non-human (i.e. bot) traffic; (4) A large addressable market consisting of 32m SME’s in North America, who are increasingly interested in deploying AI-based solutions; and (5) Strong management of CAC payback (4.6mths) and churn (<5%) via customer qualification and onboarding/revenue-ramping strategies.

Should you buy this ASX AI stock?

Bell Potter thinks that Black Pearl Group could be a good pick for investors with a high tolerance for risk.

According to the note, the broker initiated coverage on the stock with a speculative buy rating and $1.45 price target. Based on its current share price of 84.5 cents, this implies potential upside of 72% for investors over the next 12 months.

Commenting on its buy recommendation, Bell Potter said:

We initiate on BPG with a Speculative Buy recommendation and a valuation of A$1.45/sh. We use a blended 50/50 DCF (WACC: 12.3%) and EV/ARR (weighted multiple relative to $50m ARR forecast horizon), which reflects near-term value attributed to ARR growth balanced by value captured in longer-term potential cashflow generation.

The post Bell Potter says this new ASX AI stock could rise 70% appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• After falling 47% in a year, is the James Hardie share price a buy?
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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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.

Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares closed 0.55% lower on Tuesday afternoon at $38.03 a piece. Over the past month the shares have tumbled 3.77%, but they’re still 15.7% higher than this time last year.

So if I bought $5,000 of Westpac shares in January, what would it be worth now?

Westpac was the second-highest performing big 4 bank this year, behind Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA). Westpac shares are currently trading 17.34% higher than the 2nd of January 2025. This means that $5,000 invested on the first day the ASX opened in January this year would now be worth a total of $5,867.

What happened to Westpac shares this year?

Westpac shares jumped 15% after it released a positive third quarter update in mid-August, and the share price remained relatively stable until it posted an unexciting full year FY25 result in early November.

The latest full-year update, where the bank reported a 1% decline in its net profit after tax, and after excluding notable items, net profit reduced by 2% year-over-year, caused a 5% share price slump.

It wasn’t all bad though. The banking giant was able to hike its full-year dividend to $1.53 per share, representing an increase of 2 cents per share.

What’s ahead for the banking giant in 2026?

Unfortunately, analysts consensus is that the buying opportunity for Westpac shares has now passed, with a decent downside tipped for the big 4 major over the next 12 months.

According to TradingView data, out of 16 analysts, 9 have a sell or strong sell rating on Westpac shares. The remaining 7 have a hold rating on the stock.

The average target for the share price over the next 12 months is $33.34, but some analysts expect this could drop as low as $23.03 by this time next year. That implies a potential downside as big as 39.44% for investors in 2026, at the time of writing. 

The team at Macquarie think the ASX bank stock will slump further next year. The broker has an underperform rating on the stock and a target price of $31. This implies a potential 18.5% downside at the time of writing. The bank is expected to have limited growth over the coming years.

Morgans analysts are also bearish on Westpac shares. The broker has advised investors who are overweight on the bank stock to sell up following the ASX 200 bank share’s strong gains this year.

The post $5,000 invested in Westpac shares at the start of 2025 is now worth…. 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 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.

I believe the buying and holding high-quality ASX stocks is one of the best ways to build significant wealth.

But which stocks could be destined for big things over the next decade?

Let’s take a look at three that appear well-placed to beat the market between now and 2035 and are being recommended as buys by analysts. They are as follows:

NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Artificial intelligence, streaming, cloud software, and digital commerce all rely on one physical ingredient: data centres.

NextDC has been building Australia’s most advanced network of hyperscale and enterprise-grade data centres for more than a decade, and demand is only accelerating.

Artificial intelligence workloads, cloud migration, and rapid corporate digitisation are driving a structural need for more compute power. And once a customer moves into a data centre, switching is costly and disruptive, which gives NextDC unusually strong pricing power and long-term revenue visibility.

With new facilities rolling out and utilisation levels climbing each year, NextDC could be one of the ASX’s most dependable compounders well into the next decade.

This week, in response to its agreement with ChatGPT owner OpenAI, Morgan Stanley put an overweight rating and $21.00 price target on its shares.

Life360 Inc (ASX: 360)

Life360 has quietly become one of the most successful tech stories on the ASX over the past few years.

The family location app provider is now evolving into a broader safety platform with layers of subscription revenue, new product features, and global reach.

Recent updates revealed very strong operational momentum, including accelerating subscriber growth, record paying circle additions, rising ARPU, and strong cash generation. With around 90 million monthly active users, Life360 has a significant user base to monetise through its advertising business, cross-sells, and premium offering.

Over the next decade, its opportunities extend far beyond tracking. There are potential opportunities in home security integrations, automotive partnerships, AI-driven safety tools, and new international markets.

It is no wonder then that Morgan Stanley recently put an overweight rating and $58.50 price target on its shares.

Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME)

Few ASX companies enjoy the kind of competitive advantage Pro Medicus has built. Its Visage imaging platform has become the gold standard for radiologists, offering faster rendering speeds, greater efficiency, and cloud-based workflows that competitors struggle to match.

And with radiologists in short supply, anything that improves the performance of these departments is in high demand. As a result, it is no surprise that major US health networks have been signing multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts with Pro Medicus in recent years.

Analysts at Citi are bullish on Pro Medicus. They have a buy rating and $350.00 price target on its shares.

The post The ASX stocks I think could define the next decade of growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in Life360, Nextdc, and Pro Medicus. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Life360. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has recommended Pro Medicus. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Life360. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Pro Medicus. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

CAR Group Ltd (ASX: CAR) is an ASX 200 company that has seen its share price stumble in recent months. 

It has fallen more than 20% since August, and could now be a quality buy-low candidate. 

It is the company behind popular online marketplace carsales.com.au. 

After launching in Australia, the company has diversified its exposure away from an Australian auto-classifieds platform to servicing non-auto verticals across geographies.

It now operates digital marketplace businesses in South Korea (Encar), the United States (Trader Interactive) and Chile (chileautos).

The team at Bell Potter released a new report on the ASX 200 stock yesterday. 

It reiterated its buy recommendation and has a positive view on the company including a price target indicating more than 30% upside. 

Here’s what the broker had to say. 

Open roads ahead for Car Group

The broker is optimistic on the company’s ability to generate cash flow thanks to its global network of platforms. 

We recently initiated on the company with a positive view based partly on a platform enhancement roadmap designed to drive value from its market-leading networks.

Bell Potter highlighted several growth initiatives for CAR, including:

• Expanding consumer-to-consumer (C2C) payments in Australia, which will bring more transactions onto its platform.
• Introducing a pay-per-lead model in North America’s marine segment, aiming to capture additional market share.
• Pursuing geographic expansion and improved lead-nurturing capabilities in Latin America.
• Enhancing CAR’s dealer CRM systems to help dealers more effectively buy, manage and sell vehicle inventory.

Additionally, Bell Potter believes the company’s dealer subscription revenue model can help insulate against volume/price fluctuations of product listings.

Discounted valuation compared to peers

Yesterday’s report also noted that the current share price is compelling value. 

It said Car Group continues to screen favourably on a risk-adjusted return basis when considering the stability of earnings growth against comparable ASX-listed classifieds platforms REA Group (ASX: REA) and SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK).

Based on this guidance, the broker has a buy recommendation on this ASX 200 company. 

It also has a price target of $42.20. 

This indicates an upside of 30.32% from yesterday’s closing price of $32.38. 

CAR’s current share price reflects a 12mth fwd P/E of ~28x, a two-year low; we feel this misses the underlying investment case for CAR heading into a period from 1H27 onwards from margin headwinds rolling off into an accelerating adj. EPS growth profile.

The post Broker tips 30% upside for this ASX 200 stock 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 recommended CAR Group Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

If you are fortunate enough to have $2,000 to invest into Australian stocks right now, then you’re in luck!

That’s because the Australian share market is home to many stocks that have delivered years of consistent growth, resilient earnings, and strong returns for patient shareholders.

And at present, two standout names look like particularly strong candidates for anyone putting $2,000 to work.

Here are two top Australian stocks to buy today with a $2,000 investment.

ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD)

The first Australian stock is ResMed. It is one of the ASX’s global champions. ResMed specialises in sleep apnoea treatment devices and cloud-connected care solutions, which is a market that continues to expand rapidly.

An estimated one billion people worldwide suffer from sleep apnoea, with the vast majority still undiagnosed. But that is changing. With smart watches and other devices now able to diagnose the condition, awareness is rising fast.

That enormous patient pool gives ResMed a multi-decade runway of demand. And unlike many medical device companies relying on one-off product sales, ResMed benefits from recurring revenue streams through masks, accessories, and data subscriptions.

In addition, while there were fears that weight loss wonder drugs could impact its market, the company disagrees and believes it will support market growth through raising awareness and combination therapies.

Analysts at Macquarie are bullish on ResMed. They currently have an outperform rating and $49.20 price target. This implies potential upside of 30% for investors from current levels.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

Another Australian stock that could be a top buy is TechnologyOne. It is one of the most reliable compounding machines on the ASX.

TechnologyOne provides mission-critical enterprise software to governments, universities, and large organisations across Australia and the UK. These are customers that are notoriously sticky and unlikely to switch providers.

Its transition to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model has transformed the business. Annual recurring revenue continues to grow strongly, margins have expanded, and the company has now delivered more than a decade of uninterrupted profit growth.

The even better news is that management believes this positive form can continue. So much so, it has stated its belief that the company could double in size every five years based on its growth strategy.

So, with its share price down heavily from recent highs, now could be an opportune time to invest.

UBS certainly thinks this is the case. It recently put a buy rating and $38.70 price target on its shares. This suggests that upside of over 35% is possible from current levels.

The post Top Australian stocks to buy right now with $2,000 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has positions in ResMed and Technology One. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group, ResMed, and Technology One. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Macquarie Group and ResMed. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Technology One. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

There are many income stocks on the ASX that have shown an ability to grow their dividends consistently over many years. These ASX dividend growth stocks range from the mature, slow-growers like Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) to the up-and-comers like WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC) and TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE), which have juiced up their dividend payouts by breathtaking amounts in recent years.

This can spark a conundrum for the lazy investors out there, though – the investors who just wish to buy quality stocks growing their dividends at a fast clip, and leave them in the proverbial bottom drawer. The more mature companies like Telstra or CBA might offer big upfront yields. But they don’t tend to grow them very fast.

The up-and-comers like Wisetech and TechOne are growing payouts quickly. But these kinds of dividend growth stocks arguably require investors to keep a close watch on them, given the fast-changing nature of the tech industry.

As such, the lazy investor might wish to find an ASX dividend growth stock that straddles these two paths.

MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF) is, at least in my view, that stock.

The perfect dividend growth stock for the lazy ASX investor

MFF Capital is a listed investment company (LIC). This means that it holds an underlying portfolio of assets that it owns and manages on behalf of its shareholders. In MFF’s case, these assets are mostly US stocks.

MFF’s portfolio manager, Chris Mackay, is a co-founder of Magellan and a disciple of Warren Buffett’s value investing style. He likes to buy high-quality companies at prices that make sense, and hold them through thick and thin. Some of the MFF portfolio’s largest and longest-held positions include Alphabet, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Home Depot and Amazon.

The beauty of a company like MFF is that its underlying investment decisions are in the hands of its fund manager, not you as the shareholder. As long as there is faith in this manager to invest prudently, investors can treat MFF Capital shares as a true bottom-drawer investment.

MFF does indeed have a strong track record of performance under Mackay’s leadership. Its shares have returned, by my calculations, just under 12% per annum over the past ten years. That’s share price growth plus dividends.

Speaking of dividends, MFF has one of the best track records of dividend growth around. The company has made this a priority, growing its annual payouts from 2 cents per share in 2017 to 17 cents per share (fully franked) over 2025. That’s a compounded average growth rate of over 30% per annum. MFF has already told investors to expect another increase next year, too.

Given its bottom-drawer potential, as well as its stellar track record of providing dividend growth, I think MFF is the perfect stock for the lazy dividend growth investor right now.

The post Lazy investor: this ASX dividend growth stock deserves a spot in your portfolio appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, American Express, Mastercard, Mff Capital Investments, and Visa. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Alphabet, Amazon, Home Depot, Mastercard, Technology One, Visa, and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Telstra Group and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alphabet, Amazon, Mastercard, Mff Capital Investments, Technology One, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

There are not many ASX dividend stocks I like more than Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF). I think it’s an excellent business for regular passive income.

The real estate investment trust (REIT) owns farmland across a variety of sectors, including almonds, macadamias, vineyards, cattle, and cropping.

As a diversification play alone, I think it’s an interesting idea because agriculture is an important industry for Australia but there are not many ways on the ASX to gain exposure to farming.

But, Rural Funds doesn’t have the operational risk of a farming business – that’s on the reliable, blue-chip tenants instead. Let’s take a look at how good the passive income could be for investors.

Passive income potential

The ASX stock does not pay a distribution every month, though it does pay cash out each quarter.

I think it’s better to think of the goal as an annual total and then divide that amount into 12 equal amounts. Receiving $400 per month equates to $4,800 per year.

Rural Funds is expecting to pay an annual distribution of 11.73 cents per unit in FY26. That translates into a forward distribution yield of around 6%. I think that’s a solid payout considering the RBA cash rate has been cut multiple times this year.

To receive $4,800 per year, we’re talking about 40,921 Rural Funds shares. Even receiving $1,000 or $2,000 per year would also be a good level of passive income from this business. 

Why this is a good time to invest in the ASX dividend stock

I think it’s a good idea to buy asset-heavy businesses for less than they’re worth.

Rural Funds owns a portfolio of farmland, as well as loans, cash, and various other assets and liabilities. This is all measured in the (adjusted) net asset value (NAV) figure. Rural Funds’ NAV is adjusted to take into account the market value of the water entitlements it owns for tenants to use.

At 30 June 2025, the business had an adjusted NAV of $3.08. At the time of writing, it’s valued at a discount of around 35% to its underlying value, which is large.

The business continues to benefit from ongoing rental growth thanks to a mix of lease indexation mechanisations (annual increases that are fixed or linked to inflation), as well as market reviews.

Another positive with this business is the long-term rental contracts, locking in a lot of income for the coming years. It had a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 13.9 years, which is reassuring for long-term investors.

I think this is a great time to buy this ASX dividend stock and own for many years into the future.

The post I’d buy 40,921 shares of this ASX stock to aim for $400 a month of passive income appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has positions in Rural Funds Group. 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 positions in and has recommended Rural Funds Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.