When I first got into investing in 2008, Diploma (Diploma (LON:DPLM)) was one of my first buys after reading about it Investor's Chronicle. I added more in 2009. In total I bought 2155 shares at an average of 158p. With dividends reinvested, I just sold all 2993 shares for average price of 1786p. So bought for £3,404 and sold for £53,454! This has been by far the best holding in my portfolio and I would never have normally dreamed about selling it. However, now I'm signed up to Stockopedia and am building more faith in its Stockrank system, I see DPLM's Stockrank plummeting, while its share price keeps going up (forward P/E of 30). Plus the latest report shows significant reductions in revenues in April due to Corona... how can today's share price be equal to that in December 2019, when the global outlook (and demand for DPLM's products) was so different? So I decided to sell, knowing that I can buy back into this great company again if prices drop.
Most of my sells over the last couple of months might have been better to hold on to - I was betting against a supposed Bear Market Rally, adjusting my portfolio based on Stockopedia's analysis and my judgement of Corona-friendly stocks, and making 25% of my portfolio available in cash for the second "golden buying opportunity" this year, that hasn't yet presented itself. Now, that cash proportion has reduced to 10% and I am still satisfied with overall performance of my portfolio, hoping it won't be a bear market rally after all.
Let's see what happens next with £DPLM. What do you think? Is now a good time to sell Diploma shares?
