Stocks appeared primed to regain some lost ground on Wednesday morning, with the hard-hit Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.14%) in the best position to see a bounce. With the index having hit new closing lows for 2022 in the first two days of the week, Nasdaq futures were up almost 1% in premarket trading on Wednesday morning.

Given all the macroeconomic uncertainty right now, investors are watching closely to see how individual companies are performing in the current environment. PepsiCo (PEP -0.10%) gave a key reading on consumer demand in its quarterly financial report Wednesday morning, and shareholders seemed to like what they saw. Even larger gains came from a relatively obscure Nasdaq tech stock, KnowBe4 (KNBE), which jumped in the continuation of a trend that investors have seen more and more frequently lately.

That's what Pepsi shareholders like

Shares of PepsiCo were up nearly 3% in premarket trading Wednesday morning. The snack food and beverage giant reported third-quarter financial results that gave investors new confidence in its ability to weather difficult conditions in its industry and build positive momentum.

PepsiCo's core financial numbers looked attractive. Revenue rose nearly 9% year over year, even including a 3-percentage-point hit to the top line due to adverse foreign currency impacts. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.97 per share, topping expectations and rising 14% on a constant-currency basis from year-ago levels. Organic sales jumped 16%, with some downward pressure on overall revenue coming from divestitures and other structural changes.

Interestingly, Pepsi's sales volumes were mixed. Food unit volume was actually down year over year, while beverage unit sales climbed about 3%. Much of the bottom-line gains came from reduced provisions for income taxes, which overcame slight declines in gross margin and operating margin.

Shareholders celebrated PepsiCo's boost to its fiscal 2022 guidance, which included 2-percentage-point increases for organic revenue growth and core earnings-per-share growth to 12% and 10%, respectively. PepsiCo's pricing power is shining through, and it's playing a key role in helping the snack and beverage company maintain its growth trajectory.

KnowBe4: The next company to go private

Elsewhere, shares of KnowBe4 jumped more than 12% early Wednesday morning. The provider of cybersecurity awareness training and related programs became the latest tech company to become an acquisition target of private equity investors.

KnowBe4 announced that it had entered into an agreement under which Vista Equity Partners will acquire it in an all-cash purchase. The deal puts a value of $4.6 billion on KnowBe4, with shareholders to receive $24.90 per share in cash. That's 44% higher than the stock traded four weeks ago, when Vista first made a non-binding proposal to buy out KnowBe4.

KnowBe4 founder/CEO Stu Sjouwerman said that going private will give his company access to resources and support to help it better achieve its goals of helping people avoid phishing attacks and other cybersecurity threats. For Vista, the acquisition adds to a growing portfolio of wholly owned businesses bought at relatively attractive prices.

KnowBe4 just went public in April 2021 at $16 per share, but the stock closed above $24 in its first day of trading and went as high as $36 in the months after its initial public offering. For many investors, getting taken out at a premium will be bittersweet.