Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV) Stock Price Down 6.4% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Viavi shares fell 6.4% intraday to about $44.71 (low $44.53) on roughly 3.2M shares, ~43% below its average daily volume and down from a prior close of $47.75.
• Analyst views are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" but an average target of $28.88, with six Buys, two Holds and one Sell—implying analysts' average price target is well below the current share price.
• Fundamentals: Viavi beat estimates with Q earnings of $0.22 vs. $0.19 and revenue of $369.3M (+36.4% YoY), yet it has a negative net margin and insiders sold roughly 485,772 shares (~$12.7M) over the last quarter.

Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) shares dropped 6.4% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $44.53 and last traded at $44.71. Approximately 3,201,593 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 5,577,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Viavi Solutions from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Viavi Solutions in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Viavi Solutions from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Viavi Solutions from $27.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Viavi Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.88.

Viavi Solutions Stock Down 5.9%

The stock's fifty day moving average price is $34.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.02. The stock has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -249.49 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46.

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ:VIAV - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $369.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $365.25 million. Viavi Solutions had a negative net margin of 3.38% and a positive return on equity of 13.03%. The firm's revenue was up 36.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. Viavi Solutions has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.220-4.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viavi Solutions Inc. will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viavi Solutions

In other Viavi Solutions news, SVP Gary W. Staley sold 24,237 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.93, for a total transaction of $579,991.41. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,267 shares in the company, valued at $3,260,869.31. This trade represents a 15.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Oleg Khaykin sold 74,315 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.48, for a total transaction of $1,967,861.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,849,437 shares of the company's stock, valued at $48,973,091.76. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 485,772 shares of company stock valued at $12,736,803 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viavi Solutions

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Viavi Solutions during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viavi Solutions by 86.2% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Viavi Solutions by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,278 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 825 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Viavi Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Viavi Solutions by 22.9% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,631 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.54% of the company's stock.

About Viavi Solutions

Viavi Solutions Inc is a provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for communications service providers, cable operators, enterprises and government agencies. The company offers an extensive portfolio of fiber optic and copper cable test and measurement instruments, wireless network testing equipment and network performance monitoring software. Its products are designed to support the deployment, maintenance and optimization of high-speed broadband, 5G wireless, data center and enterprise networks.

Viavi's product offerings are organized into two primary segments: Network & Service Enablement and Optical Security & Performance.

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