3 Tips Everyday Aussies Can Use to Win Big this Reporting Season

Reporting season is where the fairy tales get tested. All the hype and promises, as well as the glossy investor presentations, February is when the numbers hit the table, and the market delivers its verdict. So, the real question is this: do you want to be the investor reacting to headlines, or the one positioned before the market moves? This is the moment where everyday investors either get trapped by noise or get paid for preparation.

The reality is that most people treat reporting season like a headline sport. They scan the profit numbers, read a media summary, then rush to buy or panic sell. But what if that’s exactly why most investors underperform during reporting season? That approach turns portfolios into guessing games, but a smarter approach turns reporting season into opportunities.

Here are my three key tips for navigating reporting season properly.

Tip #1: Start with the previous report, not the latest headline

Companies constantly leave breadcrumbs: forward guidance, margin warnings, expansion plans, and cost pressures. Management tells you where the risks and growth are building long before the market reacts. Quarterly updates often reveal trend direction even earlier. If reading full reports feels heavy, run them through an AI summary tool to extract key risks, forecasts, and balance sheet changes in minutes. This alone puts you ahead of most retail investors. Markets often overreact when reality slightly misses perfection.

Tip #2: Read the whole story, not the loudest line

Investors regularly fixate on one “bad” number and ignore three powerful positives sitting right next to it. Revenue growth, improving margins, falling debt, and rising forward orders matter more than a single cost spike or a short-term earnings wobble. Strong businesses are often sold down on emotion, only to recover once cooler heads review the full report. Overreactions create entry prices that don’t stay cheap for long.

Tip #3: Timing decides whether a good idea becomes a good trade

A strong report does not automatically mean a good buy price. Shares often spike straight into technical resistance, where early buyers take profits, and late chasers get trapped. Price charts show where supply and demand actually sit. They reveal trend strength, exhaustion and breakout levels. Buying without checking the chart is like driving without depth perception. Reports describe the past, while charts reveal behaviour in the present. Entries made with timing discipline outperform entries made with excitement.

Reporting season rewards patience, context and timing, whilst preparation beats prediction every time.

What were the best and worst-performing sectors last week?

The best-performing sectors included Financials, up 1.52 per cent, followed by Consumer Staples, up 0.03 per cent and Consumer Discretionary, down 1.36 per cent. The worst performing sectors included Information Technology, down 11.91 per cent, followed by Utilities, down 4.72 per cent and Materials, down 4.12 per cent.

The best performing stocks in the ASX top 100 included Amcor Plc, up 10.13 per cent, followed by Commonwealth Bank, up 6.39 per cent and Brambles, up 4.96 per cent. The worst-performing stocks included HUB24 Limited and Wisetech Limited, both down 17.93 per cent, followed by Pro Medicus, down 14.39 per cent.

What's next for the Australian stock market?

The All-Ordinaries Index got off to a shaky start this week, with Monday delivering a sharp 1 per cent fall, the largest single-day decline since November 2025. On Tuesday, buyers stepped in with conviction, driving what initially looked like a steady recovery, however, that rebound failed to hold. Sellers re-emerged late in the week, pushing the index to finish down more than 2 per cent overall.

A 2 per cent weekly decline on its own is not unusual. The last time we saw a move of this size was in November last year. What makes this pullback more concerning is the context. The November sell-off came after weeks of sustained weakness and ultimately marked a capitulation move, with buyers stepping in decisively around the 8,700 level. This time, the selling pressure has appeared from a position of relative strength, following yet another failure to break above the critical 9,300 level.

The 9,300 zone remains pivotal. Since August 2025, buyers have repeatedly attempted to push through this level and have failed each time. It is now clear that 9,300 represents a firm ceiling, with sellers consistently emerging to cap gains and take control. As a result, the market structure is well defined. Buyers are active around 8,700, while sellers dominate near 9,300.

For traders, the message is straightforward. While price remains trapped between these two levels, expectations should be for range-bound conditions and choppy price action rather than a sustained trend. A decisive break below 8,700 or above 9,300 would be significant, as it would establish the next major directional move and likely set the tone for markets this year.

Sector performance largely reflected the broader macro backdrop. Financials led the market following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 0.25 per cent rate increase, a move that typically supports bank and insurance margins. Consumer Staples also performed well, signalling a degree of defensive positioning ahead of the reporting season. This sector is particularly interesting after an extended period of consolidation, with major names such as Woolworths due to report, where both volatility and opportunity are likely to increase.

Information Technology continued to lag, extending its period of relative underperformance. Rather than attempting to pick bottoms in the weakest parts of the market, a more disciplined approach is to focus on sectors and stocks already displaying relative strength and constructive price structures.

With reporting season fast approaching, the environment now favours disciplined, chart-driven decision-making. Expect sharper sector rotations, quicker moves, and a growing number of stock-specific opportunities. This is the phase where preparation matters most, the charts do the heavy lifting, and the clearest opportunities begin to reveal themselves.

For now, good luck and good trading.

Dale Gillham is the Chief Analyst at Wealth Within and the international bestselling author of How to Beat the Managed Funds by 20%. He is also the author of the award-winning book Accelerate Your Wealth—It’s Your Money, Your Choice, which is available in all good bookstores and online.

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