US equities offer Australian investors access to some of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies in the world. The sheer depth of the American market means there are opportunities across sectors that simply do not exist on the ASX, from cutting-edge biotech platforms to global streaming businesses with hundreds of millions of subscribers. For investors looking to diversify beyond the financials and resources heavy ASX, a carefully selected allocation to US stocks can meaningfully improve portfolio quality and long-term return potential.
Investing in US equities also provides natural currency diversification. With the Australian dollar historically correlated to commodity cycles, holding US dollar denominated assets can reduce overall portfolio volatility and provide exposure to structural growth themes in technology, healthcare, and industrials that are underrepresented on the local exchange.
We apply the same institutional-grade research process to our US coverage as we do to ASX stocks. Each name on this list has been through a full assessment covering competitive positioning, earnings drivers, valuation, and management quality. We are looking for businesses with clear catalysts, defensible market positions, and a risk-reward profile that justifies the position at current prices. The five stocks below represent our highest conviction US ideas right now.
Last updated 3 June 2026.
| Stock | Rating | Price Target | Upside | Thesis |
| Upwork (UPWK) | Buy | US$17.50 | ~98% | Cost restructuring unlocks margin well ahead of consensus; AI work growing +40% YoY, not declining |
| Corvus Pharmaceuticals (CRVS) | Buy | US$40.00 | 133.4% | Differentiated ITK inhibitor soquelitinib in atopic dermatitis and PTCL, multiple near-term readouts |
| Interactive Brokers (IBKR) | Buy | US$109.00 | ~25% | Record May DARTs +45% YoY, accounts +82% YoY net new, balance sheet driving NII tailwind |
| Walmart (WMT) | Buy | US$154.00 | ~30% | Share gains accelerating, advertising +37% YoY, eCommerce scaling with improving unit economics |
| MongoDB (MDB) | Buy | US$360.00 | ~8% | Atlas cloud consumption accelerating, AI data layer positioning, EPS nearly doubling by FY29 |
Our Top 5 US Stocks To Buy Right Now
Table of Contents
Upwork Inc (UPWK)
Buy, 12-month price target US$17.50 (~98% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Upwork is the world’s largest online work marketplace, connecting businesses with independent professionals across technology, creative, finance and operations roles. The company generates revenue through marketplace take rates running around 20% of Gross Services Volume (GSV) and enterprise managed services, and trades on Nasdaq with a market cap of approximately US$1.2 billion.
The Q1’26 result reset the profitability story. Adj. EBITDA of $57mn came in nearly 24% above consensus at a 29.4% margin, driven by a restructuring plan that cuts approximately 24% of headcount and is expected to deliver around $70mn in annualised savings. Despite lowering FY26 revenue guidance to $760-790mn to reflect macro softness in lower-value work, the company simultaneously raised Adj. EBITDA guidance to $250-260mn. That combination of a cut revenue guide and a raised profit guide tells you the cost base has been structurally reset, not just trimmed.
The bear case on Upwork has centred on AI automation hollowing out the freelance platform. The data says otherwise. AI-related work grew approximately 40% year on year in Q1 and now accounts for around 8% of marketplace GSV, while the portion of work considered at automation risk has declined from around 11% to 10% and is expected to continue falling. Upwork is capturing AI-driven demand. With a 12-month price target of US$17.50 implying around 98% upside from the current price, the risk-reward looks asymmetric for a platform that has just delivered a profitability surprise the market was not pricing. Read the full article on Upwork here.
Corvus Pharmaceuticals (CRVS)
Buy, 12-month price target US$40.00 (133.4% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Corvus Pharmaceuticals is a US-listed clinical-stage biotech developing soquelitinib, a novel oral ITK inhibitor with applications across both autoimmune disease and T-cell lymphoma. The company is pursuing a dual-track strategy, targeting atopic dermatitis as a large autoimmune market and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) as an orphan oncology opportunity with shorter development timelines.
At the current share price around US$17, the stock trades at a meaningful discount to the 12-month price target of US$40. The thesis rests on soquelitinib’s differentiated mechanism in a crowded autoimmune field, combined with a near-term pivotal data readout in relapsed PTCL that could support an accelerated approval path. If the atopic dermatitis Phase 3 programme delivers, the commercial opportunity is materially larger than what the current market cap implies.
This is a higher-risk name than the rest of the list, and position sizing should reflect that. We think the risk-reward is attractive given the breadth of near-term catalysts, the differentiation of the underlying drug, and the cash runway that takes the company through several of the key inflection points. Read the full article on Corvus Pharmaceuticals here.
Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR)
Buy, 12-month price target US$109.00 (~25% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Interactive Brokers Group is a global electronic broker that runs a direct-market-access trading platform for active retail investors and small to mid-size institutions. The group covers 160 markets across more than 200 countries and territories, and is best known for industry-low commissions and margin rates alongside professional-grade execution and risk technology. IBKR generated US$6.16 billion in revenue in FY25, has approximately five million accounts, US$937 billion of client equity, and a market capitalisation around US$147.5 billion. The company is listed on NASDAQ.
The May 2026 monthly metrics print reset the earnings power of the platform. Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) hit a record 4.22 million, up 45% year on year and 26% above the prior 12-month average, with net new accounts of 135.9 thousand (+82% year on year) and total accounts up 32% year on year, well above the high end of management’s prior long-term guide of 20% to 25%. The balance sheet is compounding alongside the activity: margin balances at US$101 billion (+65% year on year), client cash at US$180 billion (+34%), and client equity at US$937 billion (+49%). That mix lifts both commission revenue and net interest income at the same time, and is the source of the recent 4%/4%/3% upgrades to FY26-FY28 EPS estimates.
The institutional sell-side 12-month price target was lifted to US$109 from US$102, implying approximately 25% upside from the recent US$86.97 close. At the new target, IBKR trades on roughly 33 times FY26 estimated EPS of US$2.61, compressing to 26 times FY28 estimates of US$3.33 as earnings scale. Read the full article on Interactive Brokers here.
Walmart Inc (WMT)
Buy, 12-month price target US$154.00 (~30% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Walmart is the world’s largest retailer by revenue, operating approximately 10,600 stores across 19 countries under the Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Flipkart banners. The company generated over $713 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2026 and has a market capitalisation of approximately $945 billion. Walmart trades on the NYSE.
The investment case rests on three pillars: traffic-led comps at +4.1% showing the value proposition is gaining share across income cohorts, an advertising and membership flywheel that now contributes roughly one-third of operating income and is growing at multiples of the core retail business, and an eCommerce platform that grew 26% in the US in 1Q26 with improving unit economics. The stock pulled back 7.3% after the 1Q26 beat, which we think reflects sentiment rather than fundamentals. At 40 times forward earnings compressing to 31 times by FY29, the risk-reward skews favourably with structural margin expansion from higher-margin alternative revenue. Read the full article on Walmart here.
MongoDB Inc (MDB)
Buy, 12-month price target US$360.00 (~8% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
MongoDB is an independent, general-purpose data platform built on its flexible document model. Atlas, its fully managed cloud database, now accounts for roughly 72 per cent of total revenue and continues to grow faster than the overall business. The platform has expanded beyond its NoSQL roots to include search, vector capabilities, event streaming and AI-native tooling, positioning MongoDB as the default data layer for modern and AI-enabled applications. MongoDB trades on NASDAQ with a market capitalisation of approximately US$27 billion.
The investment case centres on three pillars: Atlas consumption growth that shows no signs of decelerating, a product cadence that is embedding MongoDB into the AI development stack through agent memory, MCP server integration and automatic embedding, and an earnings trajectory where EPS nearly doubles from US$4.97 in FY26 to an estimated US$8.78 by FY29. Revenue is forecast to grow from US$2.5 billion to nearly US$4 billion over the same period while EBITDA margins expand. At 53 times forward earnings compressing to 36 times by FY29, the risk-reward looks favourable heading into the F1Q27 earnings print on 28 May. Read the full article on MongoDB here.
How We Pick US Stocks for This List
Our selection process applies institutional-grade research to identify US-listed companies with compelling risk-reward profiles for Australian investors. We assess competitive positioning, earnings trajectory, management quality, and valuation against both historical ranges and global peers. Every stock on this list carries a Buy rating with a defined price target and a clear investment thesis backed by detailed fundamental analysis.
We focus on businesses with identifiable catalysts, whether that is an acquisition integration, a product cycle inflection, a margin expansion opportunity, or a valuation re-rating driven by improving fundamentals. We are not chasing momentum or speculative themes. The companies featured here have established or rapidly maturing market positions and offer a risk-reward profile that we think makes sense for investors looking to build long-term wealth through US equity exposure. We refresh this list as new research is completed.
If you would like to discuss any of these names or how US equities might fit within your portfolio, request a callback or call us on 1300 889 603.
