As well as covering large caps, many brokers also cover smaller companies.

In light of this, I thought I would scour through a range of recent notes to see which small cap ASX shares are in favour with brokers at present.

Three that have been given buy ratings are listed below. Here's why brokers like them:

Genmin Ltd (ASX: GEN)

According to a note out of Bell Potter, its analysts have initiated coverage on this iron ore exploration company's shares with a speculative buy rating and 44 cents price target. The broker has been looking over Genmin's pipeline of projects in Gabon, Africa. It believes there is the potential to support an iron ore production hub initially of 5-10Mtpa. Overall, the broker likes the company due to it offering exposure to future high margin iron ore production and the strategic theme of the development of ex-Australian iron ore supply. The Genmin share price is fetching 19.5 cents on Thursday.

Micro-X Ltd (ASX: MX1)

A note out of Morgans reveals that its analysts have retained their speculative add rating and 58 cents price target on this x-ray technology company's shares. Morgans notes that the company has signed a number of key contracts this month. This includes with the US Department of Homeland Security and Australian Stroke Alliance. The latter is worth $8 million to the company and is for the development of lightweight stroke diagnostic imaging technology. The Micro-X share price is trading at 33 cents today.

Readytech Holdings Ltd (ASX: RDY)

Analysts at Macquarie have retained their outperform rating and lifted their price target on this mission critical software company's shares to $3.98. This follows news that the company has signed an agreement to acquire Avaxa for $2.2 million. Avaxa is a specialist enterprise student management software company. Macquarie expects it to support ReadyTech's JobReady Plus platform. The Readytech share price is trading at $3.49 today.

The post Top brokers name 3 ASX small cap shares to buy appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.