What Happened?

A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the broader market rebounded from a tech-driven sell-off, with investors taking the opportunity to buy stocks at lower prices. 

This rally was fueled by a recovery in technology stocks and a significant bounce in Bitcoin, which stabilized after losing over half its value from its October peak. Investor sentiment was also lifted by a surprising improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment and the realization that massive AI-related capital expenditure, such as Amazon's planned $200 billion, directly benefits chipmakers like Nvidia and Broadcom. These "pick-and-shovel" winners jumped as much as 7%, helping the S&P 500 edge back into positive territory for 2026. The highlight of the day was the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which surged and crossed the historic 50,000 threshold for the first time.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Aerospace company Astronics (NASDAQ: ATRO) jumped 4.6%. Is now the time to buy Astronics? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Construction and Maintenance Services company Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ: GLDD) jumped 4.9%. Is now the time to buy Great Lakes Dredge & Dock? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Renewable Energy company Enphase (NASDAQ: ENPH) jumped 4.9%. Is now the time to buy Enphase? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Inspection Instruments company Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ: VIAV) jumped 5%. Is now the time to buy Viavi Solutions? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Engineered Components and Systems company Mayville Engineering (NYSE: MEC) jumped 4.4%. Is now the time to buy Mayville Engineering? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Viavi Solutions (VIAV)

Viavi Solutions’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 13 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 14.3% on the news that the company reported strong fourth-quarter 2025 results that beat expectations and provided an optimistic forecast for the upcoming quarter. Viavi announced revenue of $369.3 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.22, exceeding Wall Street's estimates of $365.4 million and $0.19, respectively. The positive results were bolstered by a robust outlook. Management guided for first-quarter 2026 revenue of approximately $393 million, which was about 10% higher than analysts had anticipated. Similarly, the adjusted earnings per share guidance of $0.23 also came in well ahead of consensus estimates, signaling strong momentum for the network testing solutions company.

Viavi Solutions is up 45.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $26.40 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Viavi Solutions’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,586.

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