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 13 May 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 |
| Broadcom (AVGO) | Buy | US$480.00 | 19.4% | Three hyperscaler partnerships lock in custom silicon and AI networking growth through 2031 |
| Netflix (NFLX) | Buy (upgraded from Neutral) | US$120.00 | 29.6% | Advertising revenue scaling, margin expansion, 18% pullback creating attractive entry |
| Waters Corporation (WAT) | Buy | US$375.00 | 11.9% | BD acquisition selloff overdone, pricing power transformation, PE declining to 16.3x by FY28E |
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.
Broadcom Inc (AVGO)
Buy, 12-month price target US$480.00 (19.4% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Broadcom is a global technology company with a market capitalisation of approximately US$1 trillion, operating across semiconductor solutions and infrastructure software. The company designs custom AI accelerators, networking chips, and broadband and storage semiconductors, and its infrastructure software segment was transformed by the 2023 acquisition of VMware. Broadcom’s customers include the world’s largest cloud and hyperscale data centre operators.
In the space of a single week, Broadcom has locked in multi-year partnerships with all three of the largest US hyperscalers. On April 6, the company announced a Long Term Agreement with Google to develop and supply future TPU generations through 2031, alongside an expanded collaboration with Anthropic for at least 3.5 GW of TPU-based AI compute capacity from 2027. Then on April 14, Broadcom announced a multi-year partnership with Meta for custom MTIA compute chips, with supply commitments extending to 2029 and an initial commitment exceeding 1 GW. Google and Anthropic alone are expected to contribute approximately 70% of Broadcom’s total AI XPU revenues in FY27 and FY28.
The revenue visibility from these agreements is exceptional. Total revenue is forecast at US$180.7 billion for FY27 and US$224.0 billion for FY28, with EPS estimates roughly 14% above Street consensus. At 30 times normalised earnings with a US$480 price target, we think there is meaningful upside from current levels as the market catches up to the scale of these commitments. Read the full article on Broadcom here.
Netflix Inc (NFLX)
Buy (upgraded from Neutral), 12-month price target US$120.00 (29.6% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Netflix is the world’s largest streaming entertainment service with over 430 million paid subscribers across more than 190 countries. We have upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral on the back of three converging pillars that we think the market is not fully pricing in. Sustained double-digit revenue growth is being driven by subscriber additions in LATAM and APAC, rising average revenue per member, and an advertising business that we expect to scale from US$1.5bn to approximately US$9.5bn by 2030.
The stock has pulled back 18% over the past six months, which creates an entry point that looks compelling relative to the earnings trajectory. We expect approximately 250 basis points of annual operating margin expansion as the advertising business scales and content spending grows more slowly than revenue. Netflix has demonstrated that it can consistently raise prices without meaningful subscriber churn, and the ad-supported tier is opening up a revenue stream that barely existed two years ago. With 70-75% free cash flow conversion, we also see potential for 20-25% of market capitalisation to be returned to shareholders through buybacks over the next five years.
The combination of a global subscriber base approaching half a billion users, a maturing advertising platform, and increasing capital returns makes Netflix a fundamentally different business than it was during the pandemic subscriber boom. We think the current valuation underestimates the durability of these growth drivers. Read the full article on Netflix here.
Waters Corporation (WAT)
Buy, 12-month price target US$375.00 (11.9% upside). Price target and upside based on prices at time of publication.
Waters Corporation is a global leader in analytical instruments and software used across pharmaceutical, life science, and industrial end markets. The company’s liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry platforms are essential tools in drug development, quality control, and clinical research. This is a business with deep customer relationships and high switching costs, which gives it durable pricing power and recurring revenue characteristics that are unusual for a hardware-centric company.
The stock has sold off following the BD Biosciences acquisition, and we think that reaction has created an attractive entry point. Waters has been undergoing a pricing power transformation, moving from roughly 50 basis points of annual price increases to 200 basis points, which flows directly to the bottom line. The BD deal brings flow cytometry and microbiology capabilities with strong pricing power and stickiness in regulated clinical settings. Cross-selling opportunities are significant, and the PE multiple is declining from 26.6x to 16.3x by FY28E as earnings growth catches up.
We see the current share price as an opportunity to buy a high-quality life sciences franchise at a discount driven by short-term integration noise rather than any fundamental deterioration. The combination of pricing power improvement, acquisition cost savings, and a recovery in end-market spending should drive earnings acceleration through 2027 and beyond. Read the full article on Waters Corporation 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.
