Zebra Tech’s stock soars as signs of a bottom emerge in order activity. Here’s why that matters.

Shares of Zebra Technologies Corp. were galloping toward their best day in four years on Thursday, after the maker of barcode scanners and printers beat earnings expectations and said it was seeing some signs that business may be bottoming.

What Zebra sees could be important for the outlook for the broader economy, as its customers come from a number of key markets, including retail, manufacturing, banking, transportation, healthcare, hospitality and the public sector.

For…