I don’t want to come across as some industrial complex crony here but I have to call a spade a spade. Just because you’re a pollution control company doesn’t mean I have to like your stock. It’s not a popularity contest, otherwise instead of oil companies and big tech being at the top of the headlines every day it would be companies that saved the manatees or baby seals or something like that.

Today’s Bear of the Day is Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) Calgon Carbon (CCC - Analyst Report). Calgon Carbon Corporation provides services and solutions for purifying water and air, food, beverage, and industrial process streams primarily in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The company operates in three segments: Activated Carbon and Service, Equipment, and Consumer.

Analysts haven’t seen eye to eye with the company. The company has missed earnings two quarters in a row, disappointing to the downside by two cents each quarter. This may have prompted analysts to drop their estimates for the current quarter and the current year. The bearish sentiment has four analysts lowering their estimates for both. This dropped consensus from 26 cents to 18 cents for the current quarter and 96 cents down to 86 cents for the current year.

That may be why shares have come under pressure this year. After trading above $23 in April, CCC has sold off considerably. Shares dipped all the way below $15 before rallying a bit during the month of November. The consistently lower lows are a problem and show the lack of positive momentum for this stock. Even this latest push higher may be running out of gas at $17.

Investors looking for other stocks in the same industry can check out a pair of Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks. Energy Recovery (ERII - Snapshot Report) and Liqtech (LIQT - Snapshot Report) are both in the pollution control industry that ranks in the bottom 39% of our Zacks Industry Rank.