9 best ASX stock picks from the Morgan Stanley Summit (and the one chosen twice)

A humanoid robot demonstration may have stolen the show, and Jim Chalmers drawn the biggest crowd at the 2026 Morgan Stanley Summit, but elsewhere a star-studded lineup of Australian fund managers shared some of their top stock ideas.

As is tradition at the summit, fundies shared a single stock pick across Australian equities, small caps and global stocks. 

In the small caps corner, we heard picks from Ausbil's Arden Jennings, Wilson Asset Management's Tobias Yao and Perpetual Asset Management's James Rutledge.

On the global front, Ophir Asset Management's Andrew Mitchell, Munro Partners' Qiao Ma and GMO's Anthony Hene offered their top best ideas.

And to close out the summit, we got ASX stock ideas from Harvest Lane Asset Management's Luke Cummings, Firetrail Investments' Eleanor Swanson and Ausbil's Nicholas Condoleon.

Here are the picks. 

Small cap ideas

1. EVT Ltd (ASX: EVT)

Pitched by Perpetual Asset Management's James Rutledge

EVT is an Australian conglomerate that owns brands across hospitality and entertainment including Thredbo, Rydges, QT and Event Cinemas.

It's across cyclical industries facing specific tailwinds right now, including the oil crisis, and in sectors known for volatility, but could represent a buying opportunity, having dropped from $18 to around $12 per share.

With its total property value close to $11.70 a share, you're effectively not really paying for the operational part of the business, which is also moving to a more capital lite model itself. 

2. Service Stream Ltd (ASX: SSM)

Pitched by Ausbil's Arden Jennings

Service Stream is an essential infrastructure service provider that has recently secured a services-based defence contract, making Defence the fourth pillar in its business. 

In Jennings' words, it's "undiscovered, under-researched and under-owned", and is net cash and capital light. He says defence could be a billion dollar revenue line in the next few years.

It's trading at below market multiple, wth a good management team and a direct link to the still-strong Defence thematic, and is diversified across other sectors, including utilities. 

3. GemLife Communities Group (ASX: GLF)

Pitched by Wilson Asset Management's Tobias Yao

Luxury retirement living provider GemLife builds, sells and leases properties for over-55s, with the majority of its business based in Queensland. 

Yao describes it as "unique in its industry", with an integrated land lease model that means it can keep margins at around 50%. He believes it has strong momentum and thinks it can grow at 20-25% EPS over the next five years.

Global equities ideas

4. CareDX (NASDAQ: CDNA)

Pitched by Ophir Asset Management's Andrew Mitchell

CareDX is an American healthtech company that provides diagnostic testing for organ recipients. According to Mitchell, it has already won its market, with over 90% market share.

But "half the game" in US healthcare is actually getting paid, he says, and CareDX is making great strides in its revenue-to-test returns and is now targeting US$200m EBITDA. 

That offers investors a "clear path to getting paid with CareDX", says Mitchell. "We think CareDX, if it can execute, will be trading on 5x EBITDA in CY28 when peers currently trade on 20x EBITDA 1-year forward”.

Mitchell says healthcare has also become something of a forgotten sector, but companies like CareDX could actually be beneficiaries of AI. 

 5. Acter Group (TPE: 5536)

Pitched by Munro Partners' Qiao Ma 

Acter Group is a Tainwanese "cleanroom" company - a crucial type of plant used to construct semiconductor chips. Despite being a relatively small company at ~$4 billion, it serves multi-trillion dollar companies, including chipmaker TSMC. 

Ma says there's a few reasons she likes the stock: it operates in a niche with a high barrier to entry; it's riding the unprecedented AI CapEx wave; and is still only trading at a P/E of 16, below market average. 

With revenue growing at 40% and profit doubling, it's one of the few remaining unknown AI picks and shovels plays, Ma says, and we're still closer to the start of the AI cycle than the end of it. 

It also won the summit audience vote, securing around 70% of all votes. 

6. Experian (LON: EXPN)

Pitched by GMO's Anthony Hene

Experian is the world's leading credit bureau. "You may not know them, but they know you," says Hene. 

It has three key advantages, says Hene - a hard-to-track business model, a long runway through which it can deploy capital productively and is now at a valuation that gives investors the opportunity to amplify any potential returns. 

It has seen its P/E come down from 28x to 17x as part of the ongoing fears over AI's impact on software stocks, but Hene says the market is misrepresenting it as a software company, and underestimating the moat it has against AI-driven competition in what is a highly-regulated private data industry. 

ASX stock ideas

7. Life360 (ASX: 360)

Pitched by Ausbil's Nicholas Condoleon

Family safety app Life360 has been caught up in the ongoing SaaSpocalypse and tech selloff, and is down more than 60% from its 2025 peak, but commands a solid user base and opportunity for growth, says Condoleon.

The Life360 app has 17% market penetration in the US, with 1 in 6 US smartphones using the app daily. It is also the most popular Lifestyle app in the US App Store. It is targeting 14 million paid subscribers, which would take subscription revenue to around $1.4 billion (double current revenues). 

Condoleon cites those multiple growth drivers - growing subscriptions and new expansion opps - as well as its net cash position as reasons it can turn around.

8. Atlas Arteria (ASX: ALX)

Pitched by Harvest Lane Asset Management's Luke Cummings

Atlas Arteria is a global toll road developer and operator, with roads in France, Germany and the US. It has been the subject of a long-running hostile takeover by rival IFM.

According to Cummings, from pure play M&A specialist fund Harvest Lane, ALX currently offers "low downside, high optionality" for investors thanks to an IFM proposal that would value ALX shares at $5.10.

Cummings says the stock was trading at $4.80 when he put together this presentation (it's not around $5.07), but investors can still see value realisation. A recent independent review value the company at between $5.39 and $6.20 per share.

9. GemLife Communities Group (ASX: GLF)

Pitched by Firetrail Investments' Eleanor Swanson

Earning its second pick of the day, GemLife is backed by Firetrail for what Swanson describes as the most valuable part of real estate agency - rent roll.

GemLife's land lease model means it sells the properties it builds but then continues to charge weekly rent on those properties. It's a "self-funding rent roll generator," in the words of Swanson. It can grow its rental stream with little capital requirement, she says. 

She sees 30% upside from current prices, where it's trading on a 15 P/E, buoyed by the clear demand backdrop of an aging population, and consistent margins, great cash flow and sustainable annuity streams. 

What are your thoughts?

Which pick do you think offers the most upside, and what's one you think the fundies are missing? Let us know in the comments below.