Viavi Soars 22% On Q3 Beat, Data Center Demand

NEW YORK, April 30 —

Viavi Solutions beat on the top and bottom lines in fiscal Q3, guided Q4 sales to $427M–$437M, and jumped roughly 22% after hours. Data center and defense are now the engines. The catch: insiders, including the CEO, sold $13.71M of stock in February at prices that look cheap today.

What Actually Happened

Viavi makes the boxes and software that telecom carriers, hyperscalers and defense contractors use to test networks. For most of the past decade it traded like a slow-cycle telecom supplier — sideways. Q3 changes that. Non-GAAP earnings and revenue both cleared consensus, shares jumped premarket, and the Q4 guide pointed to ongoing strength rather than a one-quarter pop.

The story now has a name: data center. TradingView's deep-dive on the quarter pinned the outperformance on data center and defense, with management citing continuing demand into Q4. That is what bulls have been waiting on for years — a network-test vendor riding hyperscaler capex and defense electronics. Trailing-twelve-month revenue of $1.24bn is growing 36.4%, gross margin is 59.5%, and free cash flow is $200M. The mix shift is real.

The Insiders Saw a Different Movie

While the stock was still in the high-$20s, Viavi insiders sold. Form 4 filings over the prior 90 days show $13.71M in open-market sales and zero purchases. The selling clustered in the first two weeks of February and started at the top.

CEO Oleg Khaykin sold 74,315 shares at $26.48 on February 4 for roughly $1.97M, then kept going: 70,000 shares at $24.50 on February 5, 40,679 shares at $26.25 on February 6, and 73,250 shares at $26.25 on February 9. SVP of Global Sales NSE Gary Staley sold 88,776 shares across six transactions between February 2 and February 5, totaling about $2.29M. Director Donald Colvin sold $730,750 worth at $29.23 on February 26. Director Richard Belluzzo cleared roughly $769,000 across two days in mid-February.

Insider sales are noisy. They can reflect tax planning, a divorce, a new pool. But a clean sweep — every name a seller, none a buyer, the CEO writing the biggest tickets — is a coordinated risk-off, not random life events. And the prices matter. The full insider window cleared in the $24 to $35 range. The stock now trades around $45.53.

Why the Multiple Matters

Viavi trades at a forward P/E of 43.9x. That is a hyperscaler-adjacent multiple on a company whose growth is real but whose telecom revenue has historically rolled over with carrier capex. The earnings track record helps: Viavi has beaten consensus EPS in each of the prior three reported quarters ($0.13 vs $0.12, $0.15 vs $0.13, $0.22 vs $0.19). Q3 makes four in a row.

The sell side has not caught up. Yahoo Finance's analyst target sits at $40.43 — below the current $45.53. Targets lag prints, so that alone is not damning. But the post-earnings buyer is paying above where the average analyst thinks the stock should sit, on a multiple that needs the data center story to keep compounding.

Connecting the Dots

Three patterns sit on top of each other. First, accelerating growth and improving margins. Second, an insider class that sold in size right before the print that justified the re-rating. Third, a price now well above the analyst consensus target, on a 44x forward multiple. Each is tolerable in isolation. Together they describe a setup where the easy money has already been paid — to the people who knew the order book.

That does not mean the rally is wrong. Hyperscaler capex is not a head-fake, and defense electronics has its own momentum. It does mean the next leg has to come from numbers, not narrative. Q4 has to land inside the $427M–$437M guide. Data center has to keep mixing up the revenue base. And someone on the inside has to step up and buy.

What To Watch

The checklist is short. First, Q4 results against the guide — anything below the midpoint and the multiple compresses fast. Second, the next round of Form 4s. A CEO who sold $6M of stock in February and then files a buy in May sends a very different signal than one who keeps selling into strength. Third, the analyst revision cycle: targets in the high $40s would validate the tape; sticky $40s targets while the stock holds $45-plus is a setup that resolves in one direction.

Basis Report's view is neutral. The Q3 beat and Q4 guide are bullish, and the data center mix shift is a real fundamental story. But concentrated insider exits at half the current price, paired with a stock trading above sell-side targets, is the kind of asymmetry that argues for patience over chasing.

Run the free Viavi Solutions Inc. deep-dive →

Basis Report does not hold positions in securities discussed. This is not investment advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Viavi stock surge 22%?

Viavi posted a fiscal Q3 2026 beat on April 29 and guided Q4 sales to $427M–$437M, with data center and defense cited as the demand drivers. The after-hours move reflected both the print and the forward outlook.

What is Viavi's Q4 2026 revenue guidance?

Management guided fiscal Q4 sales to $427M–$437M. Data center and defense are the primary drivers.

Are Viavi insiders buying or selling?

Form 4 filings show insiders sold $13.71M of stock over the prior 90 days with $0 in open-market purchases. The selling pattern and price levels are analyzed above.

Did the Viavi CEO sell stock before the Q3 earnings rally?

Yes. CEO Oleg Khaykin executed multiple open-market sales between February 4 and February 10 at prices between roughly $24 and $26, well below the post-earnings level near $45.53.

Is Viavi stock expensive after the Q3 beat?

VIAV trades at a forward P/E of 43.9x and sits above the Yahoo Finance analyst target of $40.43. The valuation context is covered in the analysis above.