Why Imation Corp. Shares Popped

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our thesis.

What: Shares of Imation Corp. rose nearly 15% Friday after the company turned in better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

So what: Quarterly revenue fell 12.7% year over year, to $232.8 million, which translated to adjusted net income of $0.25 per share. Meanwhile, analysts were expecting a $0.22 per share loss on sales of $224.05 million.

Now what: Nonetheless, CEO Mark Lucas admitted that, while their fourth-quarter results were encouraging, they "have not reached an inflection point in our transformation as our growth products have not yet offset secular revenue declines in our legacy business."

For now, while it may be tempting to dive in to take advantage of Imation's momentum now, I think investors would be wise to simply put it on their watch lists to keep tabs on its progress. Before I'd be willing to consider Imation as a viable long-term investment, I'd prefer to see more tangible evidence its growth products can indeed offset declines for its legacy offerings.