When a large company has a major problem, it’s natural for investors to think about when they might be able to scoop up the stock cheaply and make a killing on an eventual rebound.

But it’s too early to consider bottom-fishing for Volkswagen AG VOW, +1.04% , even though the company’s stock declined 29% over two days this week.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that Volkswagen admitted creating software to lower diesel cars’ emissions during inspections. Based on the 482,000 affected diesel cars that were sold in the U.S., VW US:VLKAY could face fines as high as $18 billion.

Read: Volkswagen lied to me when I bought my Jetta diesel

Cheating on emissions rules has actually affected 11 million cars around the world. There’s no way to know how many countries’ regulators will become involved in the scandal and how much money will ultimately be on the line, not only from fines, but from lawsuits.

Read: VW CEO resigns over EPA emissions-test scandal

“We look at single events that are assessable and containable,” said Villere & Co. partner George Young, when discussing the type of so-called special situations he and his colleagues look at when picking stocks. Villere & Co. is headquartered in New Orleans and has about $3 billion in assets under management.

In an interview Wednesday, Young mentioned two special situations that led to profitable investments for his firm. One was Carnival Corp. CCL, +0.84% , which took a beating after the Costa Concordia ran aground off Italy’s west coast in January 2012. “We could quickly assess the liability, apart from the environmental liability,” from the cruise-ship disaster, Young said.

Young contrasted his risk assessment for Carnival with the explosion of the BP PLC BP, +0.87% Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. It took three months to cap the well, which meant there was no way to know how much oil would be spilled, not to mention the ultimate total of risk to BP from fines and civil suits.

Villere & Co. prefers to stick with U.S. companies “because we have a level paying field with GAAP [financial accounting] and more liquidity and opportunities for diversification,” Young said.

He also said that while he and his colleagues prefer to invest in small and mid-sized companies, Apple Inc. AAPL, +1.57% was an attractive stock when it showed weakness in the summer of 2011. Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs died on Oct. 5, 2011.

Read: The numbers don’t lie: Apple’s stock is a bargain

“Apple and Carnival were unfortunate,” Young said, but they were “objective rather than subjective,” like Volkswagen is now, because of the fraud.

A special opportunity

Young favors Taser International Inc. US:TASR because of law enforcement’s need for nonlethal weapons, especially in light of the events in Furguson, Mo., and other shootings of unarmed civilians. Taser also makes body cameras, which can lower police officers’ risk while protecting civilians, and the company stores and manages the data as well.

Taser isn’t the lowest-price competitor in its industry. But Young said: “We’ve heard from several law enforcement sources that it’s the best out there.”

The stock isn’t cheap, closing at $23.37 on Tuesday and trading for 44.9 times the consensus 2016 earnings estimate among analysts. That’s twice the valuation of the Nasdaq Composite.

But when seeking investment opportunities based on special circumstances, it’s best to look for growth, and not only recovery plays. There’s no question that there’s a pressing need for the products and services that Taser offers.