Choosing ASX shares in September 2026 is always a tough proposition.
Reporting season finished yesterday.
During the past month, hundreds of companies updated guidance, brokers rewrote their models, and plenty of share prices moved a long way in a very short time.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 4% for the calendar year.
In that broader context, here are three names I would look at now.
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Why these ASX shares stand out after reporting season
The market has become far more selective.
Results that beat guidance were rewarded, and anything short of that was sold hard almost instantly.
That has left expensive winners and heavily punished losers sitting side by side.
The three companies below are all at different places on that spectrum, which is exactly why I would own them together rather than individually.
1. CSL: a reset year, priced as though nothing improves
CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL) delivered the ugliest headline result of the season and one of the better share price reactions.
FY26 revenue slipped 1% to US$15.8 billion, and impairments of US$7.1 billion drove a statutory loss of US$2.6 billion.
Underlying net profit after tax and amortisation still came in at US$3.1 billion.
Investors focused instead on FY27 guidance of roughly 5% underlying profit growth, comfortably ahead of the 2% consensus.
The shares finished last week at $172.32 and are up just 0.2% for the year.
Morgans analyst Damien Nguyen believes the downgrade cycle has finally ended.
In our view, the latest full year result in 2026 is generating confidence that repeated earnings downgrades are behind CSL.
Plasma collection remains a key moat, because a rival donor network takes years and huge quantities of capital to build.
A US$1 billion buyback suggests management shares that view.
2. BHP: the copper story is finally showing up
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) is the momentum name of the three, and the most expensive.
FY26 attributable profit rose 9% to US$9.8 billion on revenue of US$58.8 billion.
Copper delivered US$18.2 billion of underlying EBITDA, up 48%, and accounted for 54% of group earnings for the first time.
Net debt finished the year below US$9 billion.
The catch is the price.
Shares hit a record $68.77 last week and have since eased to about $66, still well above the average broker target of $58.68.
Income softens that somewhat.
BHP's final fully franked dividend of 99 US cents per share goes ex on 3 September and is paid on 23 September.
3. Temple & Webster: the contrarian option
Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) is, admittedly, the uncomfortable one to own.
The online furniture retailer's shares are near $4.81 and are down roughly 80% over twelve months.
Yet FY26 revenue reached a record $664.6 million, up 10.6%, with EBITDA of $21.9 million.
Active customers grew 5% to 1.33 million, and cash stood at $123 million at 30 June.
Management is guiding to FY27 EBITDA of $33 million to $40 million, implying growth of 50% to 80%.
A soft start to FY27 explains much of the de-rating.
Canaccord Genuity is unconvinced by the sell-off and has a buy rating with a $9 price target, implying 89% upside.
This is comfortably the highest-risk idea on the list, and as a result it should be sized accordingly.
The risks with these ASX shares
Free money on the market doesn't exist.
CSL still has to prove its FY27 guidance holds after several years of downgrades.
BHP trades above where most analysts think it belongs, and iron ore prices remain entirely outside its control.
Meanwhile, Temple & Webster is a discretionary retailer facing a stretched consumer and a possible interest rate rise on 29 September.
Foolish takeaway
These three ASX shares are deliberately different from one another.
CSL is a quality business emerging from a bad patch.
BHP is a cash machine at a full price.
Temple & Webster is a turnaround bet with a wide range of possible outcomes.
Owning all three would give you defensiveness, income and optionality in roughly equal measure.
For investors adding money this month, that mix of ASX shares strikes me as more sensible than backing a single theme.
