Visteon Drives D20 Stock Index to All-Time High

Visteon (VC) jumped up 14.1 percent on market anticipation that Samsung’s purchase of Harman International Industries will spur an acquisition spree of vehicle electronics companies like Visteon.

Visteon’s $9.81-a-share gain drove the Driverless Transportation Weekly Stock Index (D20) to its highest point ever, 164.99.  The D20’s previous high was 163.53 in December of 2015.

Twelve price gainers and eight losers helped the D20 outgain the Dow and S&P 500 this week. The D20’s 1.6 percent gain was twice that of the S&P 500, which gained 0.8 percent, and the Dow, which barely edged up 0.1 percent.

Ford (F) was the D20’s price-percentage loser, dropping 4.2 percent of its value and closing the week at $11.76.  Ford recently cut its 2017 profit forecast by $300 million as many of its previous year’s low-cost leases had flooded the used car market and diluted profits in its financing unit.

Visit the Driverless Transportation D20 Stock Index page to learn more about it and its component stocks.

 

Up-and-Comers:

Munich, Germany-based Osram Opto Semiconductors has released a much less expensive lidar systems package.  Its target cost is $5 versus the $70,000 price of the original tower systems and the more recent puck-shaped $8,000 systems.  Its four-channel laser bar simplifies adjustment and its use of the Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) mirrors to deflect the laser beams has allowed the significant cost reductions.