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I didn’t expect to be making any big moves in my Stocks and Shares ISA. But buying opportunities can sometimes show up out of nowhere and I feel like I’ve had to try and take advantage.
With my contribution limit reached until April, I’ve had to sell in order to buy. And while I’m not thrilled about that, I think it’s the right decision.
Sell: CNH Industrial
I don’t really feel good about selling my stake in CNH Industrial (NYSE:CNH). I think the farm and construction equipment business is still in a cyclical downturn and has a lot of potential.
I’m definitely not ruling out the possibility of coming back to the stock in the future. But with crop prices still near their five-year lows, I’m not seeing obvious signs of a recovery yet.
I think it’s easy to underestimate the company’s strengths. It looks like it has a lot of debt on its balance sheet – and it does – but this is less of a problem than investors might think.
Virtually all of this is tied to future receivables – payments CNH expects to receive in exchange for products it has already provided. And if it doesn’t, it can take the equipment back.
That means its financial position is much stronger than it looks. But there’s still a risk that its assets might not be worth the full value of the loan they’re secured against if it has to repossess them.
I still have a positive view of the stock – and I’m retaining a small stake outside my ISA. But I’m in a position where I have to sell to buy and CNH is the name at the top of my list right now.
Buy: Roper Technologies
The stock I’m bringing in is Roper Technologies (NASDAQ:ROP). In recent years, the company’s been extremely successful in acquiring specialised software businesses.
Despite this, the stock’s crashed to a five-year low, falling 39% in the last 12 months. One reason for this is the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) – which remains a risk – but it’s not the only factor.
In recent years, Roper has been paying higher valuations as opportunities have been harder to come by. And investors are concerned this is a sign the company has lost its investing discipline.
I disagree. At the start of Q4 2025, Roper made a strategic decision to shift away from buying other businesses and towards a mixed approach involving acquisitions and share buybacks.
I see this as a clear sign that management is focused on creating shareholder value, rather than growth at all costs. And the firm has $6bn available to deploy in 2026.
At today’s prices, that’s enough to bring the share count down by 16%. So with the stock trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16 (based on the firm’s expected earnings) I’m not willing to miss out.
Opportunity knocks
CNH is still well below the price I expected to be thinking of selling the stock at. But it’s up over 25% from where I bought it three months ago and I think I have a better opportunity.
In that time, Roper Technologies has seen its stock fall 22%. And since I think the firm’s long-term prospects are still very strong, I’ve made the decision to switch them in my ISA.
