CHICAGO (CNN/Money) - Technology stocks soared for the second day in a row Thursday, powered by a strong profit report from Hewlett-Packard, which investors took as another sign that a recovery may be on the horizon.

As it did Wednesday, HP acted as the catalyst for the tech sector in general. Late Wednesday, the computer titan reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that easily beat Wall Street estimates. The company also said it is comfortable with analysts' current first-quarter estimates. HP (HPQ: Research, Estimates) shares jumped $2.14, or more than 12 percent, to close at $18.99.

Along with Dell and IBM, HP is the latest technology bellwether to issue a strong financial outlook.

"Given that the three of them combined are close to $200 billion in revenue, and the entire IT market is only $1 trillion in size, it's probably a good indication of what's going on," said Dan Niles, an analyst at Lehman Brothers.

"All three of them beat revenue numbers, all three of them raised EPS guidance. They all exceeded on the top line and the bottom line, they all had U.S. demand growing very nicely, and both HP and Dell talked about stabilization in Europe."

The Nasdaq Composite Index shot up 48.21, or 3.4 percent, to close at 1467.56. All the big techs got a lift, including Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates), Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates), and IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates), $3.29 higher at $84.90.

Still, some stock strategists have suggested that the recent spate of good news isn't enough to temper the recent volatility within the tech market. But with the Nasdaq pushing through its high-water mark from the summer, and with some of the biggest technology companies expressing optimistic near-term financial outlooks, Niles said it may finally be time for tech stocks to recover.

"As the data points keep stacking up," said Niles, "it's harder to remain negative, especially when companies are beating top-line numbers of several hundreds of millions of dollars like HP just did."

USA Interactive agreed to acquire closely held Entertainment Publications, which sells annual memberships for entertainment, shopping, and travel coupons. USA Interactive (USAI: Research, Estimates) shares rose $1.54 to finish at $29.67.

Qwest Communications International (Q: Research, Estimates) ended the day 31 cents higher at $4.64 after Afshin Mohebbi, the telecom firm's president and chief operating officer, resigned amid a management shakeup. The company said it does not intend to seek a replacement for Mohebbi.