It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. That might be the best way to sum up the February reporting season at the headline level. Of course, there is more nuance to it than that. The top end of town - the banks and miners in particular - enjoyed solid results and, often, spectacular share price moves; Woolworths up 14%, anyone? Throw into the mix a record high for BHP and a resurgent Commonwealth Bank, as the strong got stronger - 'twas the best of times. At the other end of the spectrum, if you disappointed the market - even by a smidge in the case of a company like ZIP - you got hammered. This is not a new theme, given recent season history, but certainly a more pronounced one. 'Twas the worst of times. If that wasn't enough to navigate, casting a pall over the entire season was the chaos agent that is change. More specifically, AI-disruption, which apparently is threatening most small and mid-cap business models, while the top 20 are somehow immune. To help unpack one of the most colourful and important reporting seasons in the last decade, guest host, CommSec's James Gruber, was joined by David Lloyd from Ausbil Investment Management, and Dushko Bajic from First Sentier Investors. They discuss the big themes, key takeouts and, of course, all the big stocks - from the winners to the losers, and everything in between. If you're an investor in ASX stocks, you cannot miss this episode of Buy Hold Sell. This episode was recorded on Thursday, 26 February 2026.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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