Feeling greedy? These 7 ASX stocks could surge 50%+ in 12 months

What if the market’s most hated stocks became its biggest winners?

Think Afterpay in 2020 — a plunge from $40 to $10, then a breathtaking run past $100 within a year. Not every stock follows that “tick-shaped” trajectory, but those are the kind of rebound plays this wire is all about.

As fear grips the market, brokers are quietly backing a handful of unloved, oversold, and overlooked names with serious upside potential.

We’ve trawled through reports from Bell Potter, UBS, Ord Minnett, Shaw and Partners, Citi and Macquarie to uncover seven ASX stocks they believe could jump 50% or more over the next 12 months.

Some are blue-chip turnarounds. Others are high-risk, high-reward punts. But in every case, the right execution by management (and a change in sentiment) could make all the difference.

Here they are, sorted by total forecast return.

1# Alpha HPA Ltd (ASX: A4N)

• Broker: Bell Potter
• 12-month price target: $2.00
• Forecast price appreciation: 178%
• Forecast dividend yield: Nil
• Total forecast return: 178%
• Report date: 11 April 2025

Alpha HPA (A4N) is advancing its HPA First Project in Gladstone, Queensland to supply high-purity aluminium materials to fast-growing sectors like semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, and direct lithium extraction. The $553 million project is fully funded through debt, grants, and a $175 million equity raise.

Though a speculative play, Bell Potter flags key competitive edges in A4N's products:

• Semiconductors: A4N’s products outperform incumbent suppliers through purity.
• DLE Sorbents: Testing shows 2x higher lithium extraction and 1.5x longer life.
• Lithium-ion battery: Anode and cell case coatings using A4N’s aluminium nitrates illustrate a 100% reduction in battery fires and 50% increase in battery life.

The company has already secured offtake letters of intent covering more than 60% of Stage 2 capacity (10ktpa), which Bell Potter believes will enable debt drawdown and progress to full contracts by the end of 2025. Production is expected in early 2027.

"These agreements will progress to full-form contracts prior to commercial full-scale production in 2027. Momentum in key markets is strong, supporting product prices and potentially further volume expansions," Bell writes.

2# Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN)

• Broker: UBS
• 12-month price target: $9.10
• Forecast price appreciation: 108.2%
• Forecast dividend yield: Nil
• Total forecast return: 108.2%
• Report date: 10 April 2025

Paladin Energy is one of the few ASX-listed uranium companies with near-term production, anchored by its flagship Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia. Yet despite this advantage, the stock has plunged ~70% year-to-date, vastly underperforming the uranium price, which has declined 27%.

UBS remains bullish and reiterates its Buy rating despite short-term challenges. Heavy rainfall in March disrupted operations and impacted Paladin’s ramp-up timeline, prompting UBS to trim earnings forecasts and reduce its price target by 1%. 

FY25 and FY26 production estimates have been revised down 20% and 15%, respectively.

However, UBS believes the operational hiccups are temporary, and that investors are underappreciating the upside:

• The balance sheet remains strong following the recent Fission Uranium acquisition, which brought in additional cash.
• Patterson Lake South, located in Saskatchewan, Canada, is flagged as a high-potential growth option that the market hasn’t yet priced in.

“We see the Namibian weather issues as temporary, the balance sheet as strong, and Patterson Lake South as a growth option not yet priced in,” UBS notes.

3# Viva Energy Group (ASX: VEA)

• Broker: UBS
• 12-month price target: $2.95
• Forecast price appreciation: 94.1%
• Forecast dividend yield: 8.9%
• Total forecast return: 102.9%
• Report date: 11 April 2025

Viva Energy (VEA) is a retailer, commercial services and energy infrastructure business. The Group operates a convenience and fuel network of 900 stores across Australia and supplies fuels and lubricants to a total network of 1,300 service stations.

The stock has been crushed over 55% in the past year, particularly savaged during the February reporting season when it missed expectations by a mile and signalled challenging trading conditions ahead for its convenience and mobility (C&M) division.

But UBS reckons Viva could be at a turning point:

• They've just finished switching to new systems at their convenience stores (like payroll and sales software), which should start delivering cost savings and other benefits from next quarter.
• The company is ending two major deals with BP and Coles by the end of April, which will save them around $20 million a year.
• In the second half of 2025, they expect to unlock $95 million in benefits from convenience store synergies, company-wide cost cuts, and growth from their Liberty stores. 
• They also expect another $10 million in growth from their commercial and industrial business.
• VEA’s balance sheet is in good shape & maintains ample headroom from financial covenants based on interest cover, liquidity & leverage ratios.

“Trading at only 6.4x 2026e EBIT, ~40% below its historical average with next quarter providing the turning point for C&M earnings, we reiterate our Buy rating.”

4# Wisr Ltd (ASX: WZR)

• Broker: Shaw and Partners
• 12-month price target: $0.06
• Forecast price appreciation: 100.0%
• Forecast dividend yield: Nil
• Total forecast return: 100.0%
• Report date: 11 April 2025

Wisr is a fintech non-bank lender that provides personal and auto loans through its proprietary digital platform and broker distribution channels.

The stock is currently trading at just a few cents per share, but Shaw sees potential for it to more than double as myriad of regulatory and market factors make banks move away from riskier forms of debt, noting that it is nonetheless a speccy stock:

In particular:

• Wisr commands just 0.2% and 2% of the $35 billion car loan and $14 billion personal loan markets, and Shaw believes Wisr has an opening to capture more share.
• Funding costs may be lowered in time as interest rates fall, boosting margins. 
• Wisr should generate positive cash profit in FY27 with operating leverage.
• It trades on just 1.6x forecast FY28 earnings, versus an industry average of 6.7x FY26 earnings.

“Wisr can more-than-double its loan book without compromising credit quality… and its share price could more than double as it captures a full year of earnings on a $2bn loan book,” Shaw writes.

5# Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP)

• Broker: Ord Minnett
• 12-month price target: $3.00
• Forecast price appreciation: 74.4%
• Forecast dividend yield: Nil
• Total forecast return: 74.4%
• Report date: 16 April 2025

After a sharp 44% share price drop in the past three months, Zip Co has found itself in the bargain bin. But not for long, at least according to Ord Minnett.

The broker has upgraded its FY25 earnings forecasts by 5-6% and maintains a Buy rating, citing strong March-quarter performance across both the U.S. and Australian businesses. Zip reported $46 million in quarterly cash EBTDA, well ahead of expectations, driven by:

• Strong transaction volume growth, particularly in the U.S. (+47% in AUD terms due to a weaker currency).
• Net bad debts of only 1.64% was slightly above Ord's estimates, yet the business delivered a robust cash transaction margin of 3.9%.

With over 6.25 million active customers, a solid capital position, and a $50 million share buyback set to begin later this month, Ord Minnett believes the market has mispriced Zip based on short-term macro fears.

"The outlook for this business continues to be attractive, in our view, with BNPL penetration in Nth America is still very low – this supports a strong medium term growth outlook," Ord's writes.

"In our view, the share price over the last month has been a victim of a deterioration in the macro outlook – and yet we are upgrading our earnings forecasts."

6# Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)

• Broker: Macquarie
• 12-month price target: $8.60
• Forecast price appreciation: 56.4%
• Forecast dividend yield: 4.2%
• Total forecast return: 59.3%
• Report date: 15 April 2025

Santos is one of Australia’s leading LNG and energy producers with major assets across Papua New Guinea, Australia, and Alaska. The stock has been under pressure amid weaker oil prices and market-wide volatility stemming from U.S. tariffs and macro uncertainty.

But Macquarie believes Santos is approaching a major free cash flow inflection point as key growth projects move closer to completion.

• Barossa-Darwin LNG is now 95% complete and due to deliver first gas by Q3 2025.
• Pikka (Alaska) is more than 80% through Phase 1, with potential for production to begin as early as the second half of 2025, depending on weather and logistics.

“Whilst STO’s gearing is at the upper end of its 15–25% target range, it has a major FCF inflection approaching as key projects come onstream. We maintain our Outperform rating.”

7# Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

• Broker: Citi
• 12-month price target: $40.00
• Forecast price appreciation: 53.4%
• Forecast dividend yield: 1.2%
• Total forecast return: 54.6%
• Report date: 15 April 2025

Goodman Group, one of the world’s largest industrial property developers and managers, has been under pressure lately, down sharply (~25% over six months) after a major capital raise and growing market concerns about the data centre cycle and macro environment.

But Citi believes that’s exactly why the stock is looking attractive:

• The stock now trades on cheaper multiples than it did before announcing its ambitious data centre development pipeline.
• Relative to global peers, Goodman offers a more attractive growth premium.
• The Q3 update and FY25 results are flagged as potential catalysts for re-rating.

"We remain optimistic on the underlying demand for Datacentres and the industrial business of Goodman group," Citi writes.

"We therefore remain optimistic on the underlying growth of Goodman in the short to medium term. Goodman remains in double-digit growth trajectory, which is higher than current consensus forecasts for key global peers Prologis and Segro."