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Bear of the Day: Volkswagen (VLKAY)

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The dramatic scandal of “Dieselgate” has been well documented. It refers to Volkswagen’s use of cheat devices to trick emissions testing equipment into believing their diesel automobiles were much better for the environment than they really were. The fallout has been terrible for Volkswagen, leading to fines, firings, and even indictments for former board members. Despite all that negativity, that’s not why I’m naming Volkswagen today’s Bear of the Day.

Volkswagen together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells automobiles primarily in Europe, North America, South America, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Power Engineering, and Financial Services. It provides its products under the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SKODA, SEAT, Bentley, Porsche, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Ducati, Scania, and MAN brands, as well as under the MOIA brand.

The reason for naming it the Bear of the Day lies in the recent negative activity coming from analysts. It’s a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) in an industry that ranks in the Bottom 9% of our Zacks Industry Rank. Looking at the earnings estimates for the current year and next year, two analysts have cut their numbers. The negative moves have brought down our Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year from $6.68 to $6.15. Looking at the next year’s numbers, the estimates have come down from $6.90 to $6.62.

Volkswagen AG Price and Consensus

Volkswagen AG Price and Consensus | Volkswagen AG Quote

There are other companies in the same industry which are seeing positive earnings estimate revisions. Among these are Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks Suzuki Motor (SZKMY - Free Report) and Toyota Motor (TM - Free Report) .

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