The old adage of throwing the baby out with the bath water certainly can happen when the stock market is taking a beating. While the recent sell-off from peak to trough is not as bad as the summer of 2011, it has been very close to the levels after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With that kind of volatility, even stocks that are posting solid numbers and have a bright future can get hit.

We recently screened research from Cowen and came up with three top companies that have been hit hard, that are cheap, posted good numbers and overall results, and may offer aggressive growth investors some outstanding returns.

Anthem

This company is a top health care provider and its stock has been mauled since June. Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) is a top health plan company that delivers quality products and services that give its members access to the care they need. With more than 68 million people served by its affiliated companies, including more than 37 million enrolled in its family of health plans, continued growth is not out of the question with an aging population that is living longer.

The Cowen team raised estimates for the rest of this year and 2016, and they are very positive on the proposed merger with Cigna. In fact, they see it accretive by $1.36 to the current standalone 2017 numbers.

Anthem investors are paid a 1.76% dividend. The Cowen price target for the stock is $180, and the Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $183.88. The shares closed most recently at $142.05.

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Ciena

This company is a leading maker of fiber optic networking equipment sold to telecom carriers. Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) is expected to get a large chunk of the Verizon 100 Gbps Dense Wave Division Multiplex Metro optical network build-out. Some Wall Street analysts are thinking the company could see as much as 30% of the total. Some firms think that Verizon could end up being as much as a 10% customer next year, though the Cowen team estimates around 6%.

Ciena leverages its deep expertise in packet and optical networking and distributed software automation to deliver solutions in alignment with its OPn architecture for next-generation networks. The company enables a high-scale, programmable infrastructure that can be controlled and adapted by network-level applications, and it provides open interfaces to coordinate computing, storage and network resources in a unified, virtualized environment.

In addition to the Verizon deal, a majority of enterprise and Web/cloud data centers are in the process of running high-speed 40/100G optical interconnects between their data centers. The Cowen analyst feels that while the company posted guidance a little light of what was expected. They spoke with management after the report and feel current issues are transitory, and they still expect the company to drive gross margins in the 45% range.

The Cowen price target is raised to $36 from $35. The consensus target is $27.85. Shares closed on Friday at $22.51.

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Infoblox

This company posted very strong numbers and solid guidance. Infoblox Inc. (NYSE: BLOX) delivers Automated Network Control solutions, the fundamental technology that connects end users, devices and networks. These solutions enable approximately 7,100 enterprises and service providers to transform, secure and scale complex networks.

The company recently unveiled Infoblox Internal Domain Name System (DNS) Security, the most comprehensive solution from a single vendor for securing DNS inside enterprise networks. Infoblox Internal DNS Security is a hardened DNS appliance that turns the internal DNS server from a vulnerability into a strength by providing protection against exploitation of DNS for infrastructure attacks, malware, advanced persistent threats and data exfiltration via DNS.

The Cowen analysts feel that Wall Street overreacted and suggest that investors aggressively buy shares at current levels. They see outstanding long-term revenue guidance combined with a discounted price to revenues multiple as putting a solid tailwind behind the shares.

The Cowen price target for the stock is a huge $37, and the consensus target is $28.08. The shares ended trading on Friday at $18.28.

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Serious heavy selling makes some investors part with stocks they know they shouldn’t sell, but panic can overwhelm their better judgement. Eventually the selling, like the flu will wear itself out, and those who can find incredible bargains now could be amply rewarded down the line.

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