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:
- HVAC and Water Systems company Zurn Elkay (NYSE: ZWS) jumped 2.8%. Is now the time to buy Zurn Elkay? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Inspection Instruments company Badger Meter (NYSE: BMI) jumped 2.8%. Is now the time to buy Badger Meter? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- HVAC and Water Systems company AAON (NASDAQ: AAON) jumped 2.9%. Is now the time to buy AAON? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Home Construction Materials company Trex (NYSE: TREX) jumped 2.8%. Is now the time to buy Trex? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Ground Transportation company Saia (NASDAQ: SAIA) jumped 2.5%. Is now the time to buy Saia? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On AAON (AAON)
AAON’s shares are very volatile and have had 25 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 biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock gained 18% on the news that it reported third-quarter 2025 results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations on both the top and bottom lines. The company posted revenue of $384.2 million, a 17.4% increase from the same period last year and well ahead of analyst estimates. Adjusted earnings per share also came in better than expected at $0.37. The strong results were underpinned by robust demand, which helped the company's order backlog reach $1.32 billion, an increase of 104% from the prior year. This significant growth in future orders gave investors confidence in the company's sales pipeline, overshadowing a year-over-year decline in operating margin.
AAON is up 21.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $96.41 per share, it is still trading 16% below its 52-week high of $114.76 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of AAON’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,797.
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