Last Wednesday, I finally did something I’d been mulling for months, selling my shares in defensive UK stock Unilever (LSE: ULVR).
The FTSE 100-listed consumer goods giant had been squatting in my Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) for several years without generating much excitement. Suddenly, I’d had enough.
Unilever shares have actually done well over the last 12 months, rising 17%, but longer-term performance has been underwhelming. Over five years, they’re up just 10%. That’s hardly thrilling for a company of its size and reputation.
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The consumer goods giant’s sprawling operations had led to a lack of focus. It’s now trying to fix that by concentrating on its 30 ‘Power Brands’, but progress has been patchy.
Was I crazy to sell a solid blue-chip today?
Given today’s economic uncertainty, Unilever should be a Buy not a Sell. People will always buy essentials like soap and ice cream, right? But I started to question whether the Unilever share price has room to grow much.
With a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 24, the company really needs to ramp up sales and profits to justify further share price growth. The dividend yield of 3.25% is decent but nothing special. Even Unilever doesn’t seem entirely convinced by its direction. After just 18 months, CEO Hein Schumacher is being replaced. Hardly a vote of confidence.
Another minor but annoying issue was that, despite having around £4,500 invested, my trading platform wouldn’t automatically reinvest my dividends due to Unilever’s chunky share price of £45.52.
The 21 analysts offering one-year Unilever forecasts have set a median target of 5,020p. That’s a modest increase of around 10% from today. Forecasts can’t be relied upon, but I think that’s about as much as we can expect. And with no spare cash in my SIPP, selling Unilever was the only way to fund my next feckless move.
I’ve lost a lot of money on JD Sports Fashion
Enter JD Sports Fashion (LSE: JD). It’s a stock I already own, to my cost. JD Sports shares have been hammered, crashing 55% in the last two years, with 35% of that slump coming in the past year. They’re still sliding.
Sales and profits have taken a big hit, while key partners like Nike are also struggling. US tariffs are a fresh concern and the American economy’s slowing just as JD makes a big push Stateside with $1.1bn acquisition Hibbett. A recovery isn’t guaranteed.
But when I look at my portfolio and see the massive paper loss I’m sitting on, I can’t shake the feeling that JD Sports will stage a big comeback at some point.
It looks brilliant value, with a P/E ratio of just 6.2. But doubling down on a struggling stock is always a gamble. In fact, the day after I bought more JD Sports shares, they dropped another 5%. An instant rebuke.
The 16 analysts covering JD have set a median target of 122p. If correct, that’s a whopping 62% upside from today. I find that number pretty unbelievable. But I’ve gone big on this stock now, so let’s hope it delivers. If it does, this might turn out to be one of my best-ever moves. If not? I’ll avoid checking how well Unilever has done.
