Buy Hold Sell: 5 of your most popular ASX stocks (and 2 big buys)

We’ve crunched the numbers from Livewire Markets and Market Index to uncover the most-searched ASX stocks over the past 12 months, and now it’s time to put them under the microscope.

As you'd expect, big-name favourites lead the pack. But behind the ticker symbols are stories full of surprises, challenges, and potential - and that’s where the real insight begins.

Joining guest host Grady Wulff are two of the sharpest (and most entertaining) minds in the market: Henry Jennings from Marcus Today and James Gerrish from Market Matters. 

Together, they weigh in on what’s driving investor interest and whether these companies still have room to run.

And to top it off, Henry and James each reveal one innovative stock they believe could make serious waves in FY26.

It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s not to be missed.

Please note this episode was filmed on 18 June 2025.

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Edited Transcript

Grady Wulff: Hello, and welcome to Livewire's Buy Hold Sell. I'm Grady Wulff. In this episode, we're putting you in the driver's seat to run the ruler over some of the most popular stocks that you searched this year - not necessarily the overperformers or underperformers, but the ones that you most searched for on Livewire and Market Index. Joining me to discuss these is James Gerrish from Market Matters and Henry Jennings from Marcus Today. Gentlemen, let's dive straight in. 

1. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) 

Grady Wulff: Henry, I will start with you. The most expensive bank in the world and the most talked about stock over the last year. Is it a buy, hold, or sell?

Henry Jennings (HOLD): It is a hold. It'd be very hard to sell it. It is 12% of the index after all, and it's also very hard to buy it at these kinds of levels. I call it a Rolex stock. It's expensive, and it does the same thing as a Casio. Although they're getting more expensive. But at the end of the day, it's just quality, and they haven't slipped up. Matt Comyn [CEO of Commbank] has done a particularly good job. They are a massive, massive machine. You pull the handle, and the money drops out.

It is a massive building society, effectively, geared to the Australian property market, and it's been very conservative. Its technology platform is well-known as the best. Barring a cyber attack or something horrible happening to the bank in that respect, it's hard to go past it. The problem is, and this is something that comes up a lot. I did this at an ASA meeting, Shareholders Association meeting. I asked, "Who in the room," 150 people, "Who in the room's a Commonwealth Bank shareholder?" They all put their hands up, and then I asked the same question as, "Who would want to sell Commonwealth Bank?"

Grady Wulff: Not one hand?

Henry Jennings: Three hands. All their hands went down but three. That's the problem. Retail investors don't want to sell it. Some have bought it and have held it forever. Institutions are underweight, and we saw a couple of weeks ago, Fisher Investments, I think it was in Texas, they just said, "Okay. We want to put a billion bucks into the Australian market. What do we buy? Well, we've got to buy something big. We're Texans after all. Can I get a yee-haw?"

So all they did was they bought Commonwealth Bank. It's a name they know, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank of Australia. "Sounds good. Let's buy a billion dollars worth." They got to buy a lot to make it worthwhile. So it's a hold, but the analysts keep saying it's expensive. We all know it's expensive, but what is the catalyst to change that narrative? I can't see it unless there's some major collapse in Australian housing, and that ain't going to happen.

Grady Wulff: Absolutely not. I wish it would, though, being a buyer in the market.

Henry Jennings: A lot of us do. I mean, I wish it would, for my kids' sake.

Grady Wulff: Well, exactly. It's very tough to get into the market. Now, James, CBA is up 40% over the past year, despite almost every broker having a sell rating. Talk to me about a buy, hold, or sell, CBA.

James Gerrish (HOLD): I hate sitting on the fence, but it's a hold. We do hold the stock. I mean, I don't know what they're searching for on the platform, because every analyst or every fund manager is saying, "It's too expensive. We don't like it." So yeah. Then, obviously, the retail investors are not actioning what's being told by the experts. So if you're thinking about why you would buy CBA now, why you'd turn more positive on it, and what, perhaps, aside from index flows, is driving the share price.

You think if we weren't moving to a world where technology becomes more important, banking is a really high-volume, low-margin business. You can extract costs out of banking. That can become pretty sexy. So if your margins go from 2% to 3%, that's a really meaningful impact on earnings. If there's anyone or any company in the box seat here in Australia to take advantage of that, it’s CBA. I don't get why it's on 28 times, and now, it's on 14. I think that is a valuation gap that's too large, but I'm not game enough to sell it. It's a frustrating stock, because you can't add a lot of value in terms of what to do with it here, but you do have to own some of it if you're managing money, unfortunately.

2. Fortescue (ASX: FMG) 

Grady Wulff: Now Fortescue, we're shifting into the resources space, and obviously, iron ore, massive iron ore miner there. James, I'll stick with you. Buy, hold, or sell or for Fortescue?

James Gerrish (HOLD): Look, it's a hold, but I'm erring on the side of buy. We do own it in income-focused strategies.

Grady Wulff: Very good yield.

James Gerrish: It is, but obviously, it's driven by commodity price. Iron ore has actually held up better than many expected. So we're sitting here. It's trading around 94 bucks a tonne. Most analysts have 80 to mid-eighties in their forecast for iron ore prices. So look, it's doing better than expected. We do have a fair amount of new supply coming online in the next 12, 24 months, which could prove a challenge for it. It's a hold, because I'm lacking a catalyst. We need to see an improvement coming out of China for iron ore to then start to move higher. But I think it's cheap. I think there's value there, and we're just awaiting a catalyst to turn more positive.

Grady Wulff: Henry, FMG, tough 12 months, down around 30%. Is there upside potential, or do you think it's going to sit around these levels? Buy, hold, or sell?

Henry Jennings (HOLD): FMG, OMG. It's a tricky one, isn't it, with Fortescue. The beauty of Fortescue, the attraction of Fortescue was that it was a single-metal company, very much focused, focused on cost, lowest-cost producer, and had that leverage. It got distracted.

Grady Wulff: Hydrogen.

Henry Jennings: Hydrogen and all the other little things that Andrew Forrest went off, and staff turnover. It's still one commodity, which, frankly, is the one that I would avoid. It has massive volatility. $1 move in the iron ore price, and suddenly, things are up 5% or down 5%. So it has huge volatility. So from a trader's point of view, you can kind of understand why it's one of the most heavily-searched stocks. But realistically, I'd much prefer to be in BHP or Rio because of the copper, the diversity, than just putting all your eggs in the iron ore basket. At the moment, that basket looks flawed, and you've got Rio's big projects in West Africa coming on.

For me, I think it's just not one that would pop up on my radar at the moment for a long term position. It's probably a weak hold. The yield is there. They are quite generous in that respect, but it's just not got the diversity. If you're betting on one metal, and that's beholden to the Chinese and their stimulus packages, which come and go, it's just hard. You'll win one day. You lose the next. So I much prefer BHP and Rio.

3. CSL (ASX: CSL) 

Grady Wulff: Shifting space, healthcare, a big name. A lot of investors do hold this. It's a popular name, CSL. Buy, hold, or sell, Henry?

Henry Jennings (BUY): I've never been a massive fan of this one and the Vifor purchase for me, really, they went off-piste with that. I think that, for me, was sort of the key. But it is one of those stocks that trades in a bit of a range. I saw one valuation, which was, I think it was 330, 360 bucks. It's fanciful at the moment. They're as wrong about CSL as they are about CBA, to be honest. It's embarrassing. They're embarrassing themselves.

I think this one, I'm lurking towards buy, only because it's just been pummelling so much. It is un-Australian not to like it. But if it got back up to 270, 280, I think you sell it again. It's just one of those stocks. With what's happening in the US with vaccines, and Robert Kennedy, Jr and Vifor, which is actually turning around a little bit, and that's looking slightly better, but yeah, it's hard to see what the catalyst is for a re-rating of this one, to be honest. But it looks cheap on the trading range. So I think on that basis, it'd have to be a buy.

Grady Wulff: So you're a buy. James, CSL? Buy, hold, or sell?

James Gerrish (BUY): I'm a weak buy. We don't have a position here, but I think the crux of CSL in the last 12 months has been, obviously, it's had multiple years where it's been growing really strongly, predicated on really strong growth in the US. They generate about 40, 44% of their sales over in the US, so obviously, changes to how things are priced over there. I forget what Trump, the executive order he's put through in relation to most-favoured nation. That's going to have an impact on CSL. That's why the market is concerned about it, because there's plenty of unknowns around what will play out there. They'll have some offsets that they can do, particularly in their plasma business. 240, it's erring on the side of buy. Cheap relative to its own history, and, yeah, a catalyst potentially coming up in August with their earnings.

4. Qantas Airways (ASX: QAN) 

Grady Wulff: Now, time to take flight. Qantas, what a turnaround story this has been. No competitors in the market just yet. Virgin upcoming, but Rex gone. Qantas. Talk to me. Buy, hold, or sell?

James Gerrish (HOLD): Yeah. A bit boring in terms of hold. The trends in Qantas are quite favourable - in terms of ticket pricing, it has started to show year-on-year growth again.

Grady Wulff: Yeah. It's expensive to fly.

James Gerrish: It is very expensive to fly. I think Virgin's actually carved out a really good niche in the market, and it'll be interesting to see how they perform on the market. With Qantas, one of the things that you look at is what analysts have got in their projections in the years ahead, and I think the majority of analysts have got lower fuel prices. That's been the catalyst, or one of the catalysts, that has driven Qantas shares over the past 12 months.

So if we do get continued escalation over in the Middle East, I think there's probably a chance that fuel prices continue to move higher. That's going to be a negative, and I think the important thing is it's not baked into analysts' expectations at this stage. So for me, it obviously had a really good run. There's been reasons for it. They've been executing well, but yeah. I'm a weak hold.

Grady Wulff: Henry, Qantas up 70% over the last year, taking flight. Buy, hold, or sell?

Henry Jennings (HOLD): I know. Well, it's really ABA, isn't it - “Anyone but Alan”? Let's face it, Vanessa Hudson came in and has done an astonishingly good job in turning around the angst that customers felt for Qantas. I don't think they're out of the woods yet. There's still some residual angst, but they did turn around the angst. I guess some of it was COVID-related, people having their travel plans disrupted. 'Anyone but Alan' has really worked out well for her. She has done a very good job. I think the share price has pretty much doubled since Alan Joyce left.

The oil price clearly has helped. The recovery in international travel clearly has helped, and the fact that Rex is out of the game, the fact that we're back to a cosy duopoly with Jetstar and Virgin. It's amazing how the prices of the flights and the time slots are almost identical. It's quite spooky in that respect. Good old Australia with our duopolies. It's fabulous.

Grady Wulff: We have many of them.

Henry Jennings: But I guess there is potential for more AI to come into it in terms of customer service, in terms of increasing those load factors. It is dependent on plane deliveries, as well.

Grady Wulff: Yeah. What's their order line? Do you know?

Henry Jennings: Well, I think they've got their order in. It's a bit like us with the subs, but certainly, that is obviously replenishing the fleet and keeping it going. It is part of the thing. I think this is a hold at the moment. I've never been really great at airline stocks. Warren Buffett was right in some respects. They're hard. It only takes something tragic to happen, and suddenly, it's all, it's a different game. But she's done a great job, turnaround. Has run so hard, though.

Grady Wulff: It's run very hard.

Henry Jennings: I'd have to have it as a hold after the run that it's had, and if oil went to 100, 120 bucks, which some analysts have said if it got really bad in the Middle East, Qantas is not a hold.

5. WiseTech Global (ASX: WTC)

Grady Wulff: WiseTech. Let's round it out with the tech space. Henry, it's been in the news quite a lot due to founder Richard White. Is it a buy, hold, or a sell?

Henry Jennings (BUY): I like WiseTech. I think it's a buy. I've met Richard. Interesting character, and it's good to see that he's not on the front page for a change. I think for me, the key to it was their recent acquisition. Now, it's a biggie, and people say, "Oh. Acquisitions are really hard to do." WiseTech's done hundreds of them.

Grady Wulff: They take out every competitor.

Henry Jennings: Not only that, they fill the blanks in their dance card with their competitors.

Grady Wulff: Yeah.

Henry Jennings: This one, e2o, fits in kind of really nicely. But the key for me, one, is they didn't raise equity to do it, and it's quite a big slug. But secondly, they got a syndicate of banks to lend them the money. If you can persuade hard-nosed bankers to lend you money when your CEO, or whatever his title is, is splashed on the front page for his relationship issues, that's telling you something about the outlook for the company. That is a massive big tick in the approval box.

That, for me, was very telling. Bankers don't lend money to idiots. So for me, that was a big tick. I like WiseTech. It dominates, and let's face it, logistics has got that much harder because of the tariffs. Most people are throwing their hands up in the air and going, "Oh. It's just too hard. Let's forget about America," and it has got harder. So what do you need? You need good software. You need good systems. You need WiseTech.

Grady Wulff: James, same sentiment, or, despite the volatility, it is up 16% over the last 12 months. Buy, hold, or sell for WiseTech?

James Gerrish (BUY): I've got it as a buy, and we do own WiseTech. Bought it recently. I think that logistics are incredibly complicated, complex from a global perspective, and they've only gotten harder over the course of the last 12 months or so. When Richard wasn't in the business, it showed how needed he was, how influential he was. That was the only time that they had a misstep in terms of their execution. So that, to me, showed that whatever indiscretions in the past, he's really influential to the business. Having him back leading it, I don't know how he's pulled it off in terms of the board structure, et cetera.

Grady Wulff: He's done well.

James Gerrish: Yeah. Well, I guess the stakeholders in the business realise how critical he is. So that, in itself, creates a risk. There's a risk there. You've got to acknowledge that. But I think when you sit back, and look across the equity market for true growth opportunities that have been sold down, that represent good risk/reward, WiseTech, around the hundred bucks, where it's 110 at the moment, thereabouts, is a really good option. So if you think about the medium term, I've got very little doubt that this will be a bigger business in three, five, and 10 years than it is now.

Guest picks

Grady Wulff: Now, I asked both of our guests to bring a stock that they believe is innovative and coming up with something exciting over the next 12 months and that they're backing heading into FY26. James, I'll start with you. What have you brought along today?

SiteMinder (ASX: SDR)

James Gerrish: Yeah. I've brought SiteMinder, which is a platform used to optimise hotel bookings and hotel yields. They were a hot IPO back in late 2020 or 2021, from memory. They've got their proper business. They're in about 46,000 hotels around the world. Much like we've seen in another similar sort of stock in a different sector, is Catapult over the past 12 months or so, is that they're at the inflexion point of where earnings are really going to start to kick in.

So they've been losing money, tipping in and out of loss over the last couple of years, but growth is starting to accelerate. They've got a couple of really interesting new products, and what they offer works. So it allows individual hotels to optimise how they're charging for rooms, much like Qantas and Virgin and optimising yields on aeroplanes . They can do this in the hotel space. So AI is a great potential benefit to them. And so that's an interesting one that's been sold down on the back of weakness in travel. Particularly out of the US, we've seen a number of downgrades from travel companies. So you're getting it at a price that's not at all-time highs like a lot of these things that have done really well.

Grady Wulff: So compelling for you in the AI space, as well, SiteMinder. Henry, what are you bringing for us today?

Neuren Pharmaceuticals (ASX: NEU) 

Henry Jennings: It's a little bit left-field, and it has been quite volatile. It's a stock called Neuren Pharmaceuticals and they are a very niche kind of orphan drug designation in the US. They've got one treatment out there, which they've licensed to a US company called Acadia, and they've got milestone payments. They've got upfront payments. They get a royalty stream. They've got $360 million in cash. It's capitalised at 1.5, 1.6 billion.

It is quite volatile. They do have a new drug coming, NNZ-2591, which they've got trials, results coming later this year, which could be a game changer for them again. They're chock-full of cash. They're doing a buyback, which is good. It is run on the smell of an oily rag. It's not another Opthea. That's tarred the sector to some extent.

Grady Wulff: It's been tough.

Henry Jennings: It's been tough, and that funding mechanism is not the same. The drug, Daybue, is in circulation. It is being sold in America. Good sales. Acadia doing well with that. My only reservation is that it is a very small market in the US. It gets bigger as you expand to the rest of the world, but it does cost $400,000 US per year. That's a lot of money.

Someone's got to pay for that. Insurance companies are paying for that, obviously, or hopefully, insurance companies are paying for it. But it is huge. It makes a massive difference to the quality of life for these poor kids that have these rare syndromes. The new drug will expand that, diversify it if it gets approval, if the trials are successful. It's got a lot of cash, good management. I've met Jon Pilcher a couple of times, talked to him. I like this one. It has been volatile, but it could double this year.

Grady Wulff: I will disclose I'm a happy Neuren shareholder, as well, so...

Henry Jennings: Oh, there you go. Preaching to the converted.

Grady Wulff: There you have it from our guests. I hope you enjoyed that episode of Buy Hold Sell with Livewire as much as we did filming it. If you did, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.