Test and measurement technology company Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS) stock is up a whopping 14.3% in the week to Friday morning. The move comes as the market warmed to its third-quarter earnings released earlier in the week.

It's not that its year-over-year core revenue growth or core orders growth turned positive (down 13% and 1%, respectively), and it's not that management called the bottom in its end markets.

Instead, the optimism comes from Keysight beating revenue expectations in the quarter, and its overall conditions are not worsening. As with the technology sector, investors look for early signs of a trend reversal in order patterns. That's especially the case with a company like Keysight, whose revenue is based on its customers' willingness to invest in research and development (R&D) -- usually the first thing to get cut in a slowdown.

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Source Fool.com