Buy Hold Sell: 5 small-cap hidden gems worth your attention

Small caps have long been the hunting ground for investors seeking outsized growth, but they also demand a sharper eye and stronger conviction. 

Whilst smalls have woken from a long slumber in 2025, beneath the headline names a new generation of companies is quietly building momentum - firms with unique market positions, improving fundamentals, or catalysts that could soon propel them into the spotlight.

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Livewire's Chris Conway is joined by James Nguyen from Tyndall Asset Management and Shaun Weick from Wilson Asset Management. Together, they shine a light on five small-cap hidden gems; businesses that aren’t household names yet, but might be tomorrow.

They unpack what makes each one special, the triggers that could unlock their value, and the key risks investors should keep in mind. 

Whether you’re hunting for the next breakout stock or simply looking to understand what drives performance in this dynamic part of the market, this episode is full of actionable insights from two seasoned small-cap specialists.

Please note that this episode was filmed 5 November 2025

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Edited Transcript

Chris Conway: Hello and welcome to Livewire's Buy Hold Sell. My name is Chris Conway. After covering the rally and some of the market leaders in the small-cap space in the previous two episodes of this series of Buy Hold Sell, today we're going to dig a little bit deeper and uncover some of the hidden gems. To help me do that, I'm joined by Shaun Wieck from Wilson Asset Management and James Nguyen from Tyndall Asset Management.

Gents, let's get straight into it. First up, we're going to talk about L1 Group; merged with or took over Platinum Asset Management recently. L1 is a Melbourne-based fund manager. James, I'll come to you first. Buy, hold, or sell?

L1 Group (ASX: L1G)

James Nguyen (BUY): It's a buy for us. So we participated in the most recent equity raising. Thought it was a great opportunity to get a position in a quality business. If I look at the, as you said, the acquisition, there's a lot of good things that'll come from it. In the most recent update, quarterly update, you can start to see the green shoots in terms of investment performance. L1 Capital continues to be strong on a short-term and long-term basis. Investment performance at Platinum, from a short-term perspective, seems to be improving a lot. Hopefully, you’ve got the foundations there to have a turnaround. In terms of the synergies that they've announced, so $20 million synergies plus an extra $15 million cost-out at Platinum, I think that's more than achievable.

And reason being is that if you look at the cost base on Platinum, it's $25 million more than L1 Capital, despite having much lower FUM. But really, to me, the cost-out story is just buying you time for them to actually implement real changes at the operational level. I think that funds management is really a people business. And I'm going to give a competitor a plug, but Raph and Mark are serious operators. And so you're giving them, or you're backing, them to implement the framework to change or to improve their investment performance of Platinum, to stem the outflow and realise the benefits.

Chris Conway: James, you mentioned the capital raise there, was done at 95 cents. And I think the stock went in at about $1.03 or $1.04 for the raise, and came out higher than that. So it's trading above the raise price. Shaun, buy, hold, or sell for you on this one?

Shaun Wieck (BUY): We think it's a buy too. I'd echo a lot of James' comments. So what I'd say incrementally is these guys know how to make money. They've proven it as fund managers. And we think in a listed vehicle, they'll be able to prove that they can do the same. Julian Russell's gone in and joined them from Eclipx. He did an excellent job at that business in turning it around. And really, you're sitting on a $300 million-plus minimum war chest now to go out and deploy into earnings accretive acquisitions. And they've got the multiple to do it. I think the other key thing here is index inclusion as well, or remaining in the index. There's a lot of people short this stock on the basis that it was going to get deleted. So yeah, it is game-changing for me in that perspective. We like it here.

Chris Conway: There you go. Nice double buy to start off with. Next up, we're going to talk about Energy One, stock code EOL, provider of software and operations to the energy market. Shaun, I'll stay with you. Buy, hold, or sell?

Energy One (ASX: EOL)

Shaun Wieck (BUY): EOL's a buy for us. They're effectively the Iress of energy trading and risk management software. Think of them as the backbone. They're operating across 30 countries now. Management have guided to 15 to 20% ARR growth. We think the momentum there remains very strong. There's potential upside to that with a significant component of that already locked away in bank today. If you look at the cost base, it's going to largely allow that to flow through, see strong operating leverage. The business is trading on a decent multiple. They got a good balance sheet. We think they're on the hunt for earnings accretive acquisitions, which will provide another catalyst of driver re-ratings. So it's a buy for us.

Chris Conway: James, up 233% in the past year. So this one has absolutely shot the lights out. What do you make of it? Buy, hold, or sell?

James Nguyen (BUY): Oh, it's a buy for us. And share a lot of Shaun's comments. I'd just say that it's a tech company, obviously, but it's also a profitable tech company. And that's at their NPAT line, not at the EBITDA line. So it's a business that has been able to drive double-digit top-line growth, get operating leverage, and drive material EPS growth. And what I also like is they're 60% of the market share in Australia, yet they're still able to grow top line by 13%. So it shows that their products resonate with their customers and they have pricing power. And they're 8% of the European market, which is much, much more complex, given energy travels from border to border in Europe, and so you have different rules, different regulations. And so you really do need a software system like what Energy One provides. And so yeah, share Shaun's comments. And it's definitely a buy for me.

Chris Conway: Yeah. Next up, we're going to talk Ora Banda Mining. It is a gold mining and exploration company. As we all know, gold has been one of the hotter trades this year. It has fallen over a little bit recently, but still done very well. James, buy, hold, or sell for you?

Ora Banda Mining (ASX: OBM)

James Nguyen (BUY): To us, it's a buy. If you look at Ora Banda, it's trading on 13% free cash flow yield. But I'd be very ... well, I'd caution you to capitalise that free cash flow yield. The reason being is that ultimately, it only has a two-year mine life on its current resource. That said, the reason that we're drawn to Ora Banda is a couple of reasons. One being that the executive team, we think Luke Creagh is a highly respected, highly credentialed executive. He's ex-Northern Star. Has a great track record of being able to deliver projects on time, on budget. And has a fantastic team beneath him. The other thing we like about Ora Banda is the balance sheet. It's got $120 million of cash on balance sheet. And so with the cash flow it's generating, can really fund that exploration program that it has. And it has one of the largest exploration programs in Australia.

I'd caution, though, that Ora Banda is probably at their riskier end of your gold exposure, given that it is an explorer. So, a couple things you really need to do when you're investing in exploration companies, in my view. One is you need to back the right people. Two, you need the balance sheet to be able to self-fund the exploration. Otherwise, you're just going to be continuously tapping equity markets or shareholders. And three, I think you need to right-size your position. So you need to be able to understand the risk you're taking and have a position that is commensurate to the risk.

Chris Conway: Up 70% over the last 12 months. Shaun, buy, hold, or sell for you?

Shaun Wieck (HOLD): Yeah. It's a hold for us. I'd echo a lot of James' comments. Luke's done a great job there over the last three years, pivoting them to underground. And we do think there probably is some decent upside in terms of drilling out these regional targets. For us, it's really just a directional call on gold. It's done incredibly well, as you said. So we think it's probably due a bit of a pause or a breather here. We think the momentum has come out of that trade.

Chris Conway: Next up, we'll talk Plenti Group, a FinTech lender providing personal, auto, and energy loans. Shaun, I'll stay with you. Buy, hold, or sell?

Plenti Group (ASX: PLT)

Shaun Wieck (BUY): Plenti's a buy for us. The non-bank financial space is experiencing a strong, I guess, comeback now as you're seeing rate expectations come down, underlying economic activity improve. The structural tailwind here for these guys is really the major banks continuing to withdraw from personal and auto lending and also the renewable space too. So they're in a very strong position to continue to take market share. Management are excellent. They've done a great job in terms of managing the business through the cycle. Operating leverage is very strong. The platform's very scalable. But the thing we think the market's underestimating is the upside opportunity from the NAB partnership, which is really yet to hit its straps. So over the medium term, we think that can provide a lot of upside. There's other verticals that it can expand into. And the stock's on 10 times earnings. So yeah, we continue to like that one.

Chris Conway: James, up 63% over the last 12 months. Any interest in this one? Buy, hold, or sell?

James Nguyen (HOLD): It's a hold for us at the moment. The reason being that we have been naked the non-traditional bank lenders for the last 12 months. We've been concerned with, one, the credit cycle, but also, two, when inflation was running hot, interest rates were going up. So yeah, we just had a macro overlay concern. That said, the Australian economy has been proven to be much more resilient than we expected. And so now we're doing a lot of work on these non-traditional bank lenders. And I'd say in the case of Plenti, what attracts us is the fact that they've been able to manage their bad debts phenomenally relative to their peers. And so puts management in good stead in terms of their conservatism.

Tasmea (ASX: TEA)

Chris Conway: Rounding it out, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to talk to Tasmea. It is a mining services company, provider of maintenance, engineering, and project services, of course, to the mining industry. James, I'll stay with you. Bring us home. Buy, hold, or sell?

James Nguyen (HOLD): I'm probably a hold to a sell. And the reason being that throughout my career, I've always said that you buy a contractor on 10 times earnings and you sell them on 15 times. And in this current cycle, most of the contractors are now trading on high teens. And so what we've done is, unfortunately, we've sold a lot of them way too early and missed out on that last little leg. I think what we were missing this time was the fact that in this instance, or in this cycle, one, you've had the mining cycle, but also, you've had the electrification. And so that's really provided additional work on top of what they would normally see in a cycle. That said, we're still overweight, this sector. We've just got our capital in a couple of cheaper names, in Symal and Lycopodium. And also, we have exposure in Duratec, which has a bit of a defence angle, which we like.

Chris Conway: Shaun, the final word. Tasmea up 68% in the last 12 months. Buy, hold, or sell for you?

Shaun Wieck (BUY): We think it's a buy. I'll see if I can convince James of the same. So yeah, this stock, for us, it's increased about three times since its IPO back in 2024. What we think the market misses on this one is they're focused on niche industries that are mission-critical, where in effect it provides them with a greater level of pricing power, which is why they're able to earn far superior margins to competitors across the listed space. The management team owns 60% of the stock. They're heavily invested in the business and ensuring things continue to execute to plan. They've just raised money about three or four months ago, which, on our estimates, enables them to do about 30 to 35% of earnings accretion using historical multiples.

So to us, that makes that 15 times earning in FY27 that it's trading on actually look more like in the 10, 11 times range. So yeah, we think given that scope for re-rating on accretive acquisitions and the ability for this stock to enter the ASX 300 index in March next year, where it's right on the cut-off at the moment, we think investors are still relatively underweight this one. And it's trending really attractive here. So yeah, we think it's good buy at these levels.

Chris Conway: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Unfortunately, that's all we have time for today. Thanks to James and Shaun for the entire series of Buy Hold Sell episodes. If you enjoyed this one, make sure to give it a like. And don't forget to follow our YouTube channel. We're adding lots of great content every single week.