The Telstra outage of a few weeks ago was a fitting bookend to FY26 the ASX communications sector. It may have fared better than tech and healthcare, but the sector ended the financial year down 12.5% as macro, structural and cyclical threats took their toll. 

So what does the next year offer? 

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Livewire's Tom Stelzer is joined by IML's Daniel Moore and Wilson Asset Management's Hailey Kim to dissect three communication names and decide if they're worth picking up or letting go through to voicemail. 

They also each bring a stock pick of their own - one an entertainment business with strong assets and a beaten-down market leader with double-digit earnings growth.

Late last year, more than 2,700 Livewire readers nominated their favourite income stocks for the year ahead. We already ran the ruler over the first half of that list - you can find that episode here. Now we're back for the second half.

A lot has changed in the past six months, so there's no better time to take stock, so to speak. Geopolitical tensions have rattled commodity prices, bond yields have pushed higher, and the question of what actually makes a reliable income stock has never felt more relevant. A high yield can be a gift, or it can be a trap. 

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Hugh Dive from Atlas Funds Management and Jason Teh from Vertium Asset Management are back to debate the remaining names on the reader-favourites list, separating the sustainable stories from those whose thesis haven't aged as well as investors might have hoped. They also share one income idea each to freshen up the list for the second half of the year. 

This episode was filmed Wednesday 22nd July 2026. 

Every relationship has its ups and downs. 

And every year, misunderstandings, broken promises and poor behaviour create a special list that no company wants to end up on - the Dogs of the ASX. 

These are the stocks that have been punished by the market and banished to the proverbial doghouse.

This list is based on the "Dogs of the Dow" strategy, popularised by Michael O'Higgins in the early 90s - a systematic bet on mean reversion. Buy the worst performers from a large-cap index and wait for them to come back. The trick is picking which ones actually will.

Hugh Dive from Atlas Funds Management has been tracking the Dogs of the ASX since 2011. In his FY26 breakdown, he notes that last year's cohort returned 66%. 

What makes this year's list unusual is the names on it. WiseTech, Xero, CSL, Pro Medicus...stocks that not long ago would have sat at the top of every quality growth manager's portfolio. Much like a bad breakup, it's not always fair or justified, and it's not always the full story. 

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Hugh and Jason Teh from Vertium Asset Management debate four of the biggest dogs in the top 10 and share their turnaround picks.

This episode was filmed Wednesday 22nd July 2026. 

As anyone paying even cursory attention to markets would know, the ASX tech sector has had a rough trot over the past year, down 37% as AI upheaval and rising rates took their toll.

But not every stock in the sector has been dragged down with it, and the upcoming August reporting season is shaping up as a key test of who's actually benefiting from AI versus who's being eaten by it.

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Elise McKay of Pendal and Shaun Weick of Wilson Asset Management join Livewire's Tom Stelzer to analyse three of the biggest ASX tech names that each sit on different branches of the AI tree.

One is a standout performer up more than 70% year-to-date, one is a software name some have already declared dead as an AI casualty, and one is a data centre name smack bang in the middle of the infrastructure boom.

They also each nominate a tech stock they're backing, including one that could be the next big Australian medtech success story.

This episode was filmed Wednesday 15th July 2026.

It's a tough time for many consumers as the forces of rising rates, stubborn inflation and other macro complications have seen Australia's cost-of-living crisis rumble on.

It's a good thing then that there's still plenty of consumer discretionary stocks showing strength, even if the outlook for the sector remains more uncertain.

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Livewire's Tom Stelzer is joined by Elise McKay from Pendal and Shaun Weick from Wilson Asset Management to make the call on three ASX consumer stocks that could still be potential buys despite the challenges.  

They've also brought two very different choices as their picks for a consumer stock to watch right now. 

There's no two ways about it. If you weren't holding materials stocks over the past 12 months, you missed a trick.

The sector surged more than 45%, blitzing its nearest competitor (consumer staples up ~11%) and outperforming every other positive sector... combined.

The sector was powered by insatiable demand for commodities from the AI infrastructure build-out.

Gold, silver, copper, platinum and palladium all enjoyed significant price increases, whilst iron ore - still the backbone of the Australian mining sector - didn't suffer the price falls many were expecting. But the stellar performance begs the natural question - can the rally keep going?

To explore that question, run the ruler over some of the winners, and each pitch a stock they're backing for the year ahead, Livewire Tom Stelzer is joined by Stephane Andre from Alphinity and Dougal Maple-Brown from Maple-Brown Abbott.

Please note this episode was filmed on 1 July 2026.

The energy sector has been front and centre for much of the last 12 months, as AI demand and the war in Iran have seen demand surge and prices jump around. 

That's been good news for many of local names, with the ASX Energy sector up 11% this year, but is there any charge left in the battery?

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, Livewire's Tom Stelzer is joined by Dougal Maple-Brown from Maple-Brown Abbott and Stephane Andre from Alphinity Investment Management to see if they're positive or negative on some interesting ASX energy names. 

In a rare turn of events, we've also got a double fundie stock pick. Find out which stock has got the joint tick of approval and why by watching the episode below. 

Just weeks ago, markets were pricing in the risk of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East, with oil surging as investors feared disruptions to global supply. Today, much of that geopolitical risk premium has unwound. Brent crude has retreated to around its pre-war levels following a US-Iran peace agreement, even as fresh flare-ups serve as a reminder that the situation remains far from settled.

Whether the recent pullback in oil proves temporary or not, investors are already asking the next question: who stands to benefit? The obvious winners are businesses with large fuel bills. But lower oil prices can ripple through the economy in unexpected ways, easing input costs and lifting consumer spending. 

Joining Livewire’s Anna Dadic are Henry Jennings from Marcus Today and Michael Wayne from Medallion Financial, to debate four stocks that could be lesser-known beneficiaries of the recent retreat in oil prices, examining whether they offer compelling exposure to cheaper energy, or whether the market has already priced in the upside. 

We also asked each guest to nominate a stock they see as an unexpected winner from the fall in oil prices.

This episode was filmed Wednesday 24th June, 2026.

Short sellers are often described as the smartest money in the room. They borrow shares, sell them on market, and actively bet that the price will fall. 

Get it right and the returns can be substantial. Get it wrong and the losses are theoretically unlimited. Just ask the person on Reddit who shorted Korean fried chicken companies then lost it all when pictures of Jensen Huang eating fried chicken in Seoul went viral. I think about them often. Mostly I think - what were they thinking.

In this episode of Buy Hold Sell, we are joined by Michael Wayne from Medallion Financial and Henry Jennings from Marcus Today to work through six of the ASX's most heavily shorted stocks right now. 

As Jennings puts it, a big short position doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, sometimes it's just an easy target. But when you're looking at short interest north of 20% and days to cover that stretch into months of normal volume, there's usually a story underneath that’s worth knowing about.

As equity investors, we're always aiming for better-than-average - otherwise we'd just buy a low-cost index ETF and be rid of the vagaries of individual stocks (but what fun would that be?!?!)

No, playing the game of the market, we want - even need - stocks in our portfolio that deliver above-average performance, if for no other reason than to cover the laggards.

With the new financial year about to roll over, it’s time to cast our eyes ahead and think about companies that can deliver for us in the coming 12 months.

In this episode, Livewire's Chris Conway is joined by Yarra Capital Management's Marcus Ryan and ClearBridge Investment's Reece Birtles, who each pitch three stocks that they believe are poised for a big year ahead.

That's right, it's six straight-up buys, with the guests talking passionately about the stocks in their portfolios. 

For good measure, they also share one stock they'll likely avoid over the next 12 months.

This episode was filmed on Wednesday, 17th June 2026.