
We view Telstra as a highly resilient, structurally advantaged cash-generating business within the Australian equity market, offering strong earnings quality and downside protection despite limited headline growth. Its focus on network leadership, disciplined capital management and monetisation of digital and infrastructure assets supports stable free cash flow and reliable capital returns, particularly in a softer macro environment. We believe the market continues to undervalue Telstra’s leverage to long-term data demand, the durability of its mobile economics, and the embedded optionality in InfraCo and enterprise digital services.

In our assessment, FMG is neither a simple iron ore beta nor a speculative green-energy experiment. It is a structurally low-cost, high-free-cash-flow industrial platform that deliberately uses surplus mining rents to accumulate long-dated strategic options in energy and decarbonisation. FY25 and the September 2025 quarterly update reinforce our view that Fortescue remains one of the most financially resilient miners globally, even as it operates in a more volatile commodity and macro environment.

We believe National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) is entering a structurally more attractive phase of its earnings cycle, one that the market is only partially pricing. FY25 confirms that NAB has completed a difficult multi-year transition from remediation-heavy execution towards balance-sheet-led growth, operational leverage, and disciplined capital deployment. In our view, National Australia Bank is no longer just a “solid major bank.” It is increasingly a business-banking-centric compounder, with improving margin resilience, strengthening deposit mix, stabilising asset quality, and credible technology-driven productivity optionality.

We believe Collins Foods (ASX: CKF) is entering a multi-year earnings recovery cycle anchored by margin repair in Australia, operational rejuvenation in Europe, clear line-of-sight to double-digit EBITDA growth, and an improving balance sheet that gives management options rather than constraints. The HY26 results demonstrate that CKF is moving decisively out of the inflation shock period that suppressed margins and elevated operating costs between 2022–2024. With commodity and utilities inflation easing, labour efficiencies improving, and price/mix still resilient, we see structural tailwinds forming beneath the company’s operating base.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) remains the undisputed heavyweight of the Australian financial system, dominant in retail banking, advantaged by scale, and well-positioned to monetise the next phase of household re-leveraging as rates peak and credit growth stabilises. Our view is simple: CBA’s franchise resilience is undervalued. While the macro backdrop remains mixed and competition in mortgages remains intense, the bank continues to deliver sector-leading returns, defend margin leadership, and maintain one of the strongest balance sheets globally.

NRW Holdings is emerging from FY25 with strengthened financial performance, record order book visibility, and renewed momentum across its mining, civil, and MET (Maintenance & Engineering) segments. With EBITDA growing, margins stabilising, and a robust pipeline supported by long-life Tier-1 resources projects, NWH has entered FY26 well-positioned for continued earnings expansion. The company’s durability across cycles, combined with strong cash generation and rising recurring revenue streams, reinforces the investment case for long-term holders.