Shares of two technology companies jumped on bullish expectations on Monday, a fairly upbeat day on Wall Street.
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc., a maker of business software, closed up more than 3% on a recent market value of $2.4 billion.
Investors seemed to be banking on Quest reporting third-quarter results this week that will beat Wall Street’s expectations.
For the three months through September, analysts are expecting Quest to see adjusted profits of $32 million, a gain of roughly 3% from a year earlier.
Analysts are looking for Quest to see sales of $189 million, up about 10% from the year-ago quarter.
Quest’s software builds upon and improves other business software programs by Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and others.
The company is set to report results after the close of trading on Thursday.
Shares of Newport Beach-based Mindspeed Technologies Inc., a maker of communications chips that go into wireless networks, got a boost after a flurry of options trading on Monday.
The stock closed up 6% on a recent market value of $250 million. Shares gave up a bit of ground in afterhours trading, but not enough to dent the run-up.
Mindspeed rose on a spike in options trading—meaning a cadre of investors is betting that the company’s shares could rise.
Typically, an increase in options trading accompanies takeover speculation. Sometimes it’s based on a hint that the company’s quarterly performance could beat the Street.
Analysts, on average, are expecting Mindspeed to post $10 million in profits, up from breaking even in the same period a year earlier, on sales of $53 million, up 52% from a year earlier.
Mindspeed is set to report September quarter results on Nov. 1.
