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 investing thesis.

What: Shares of seismic data specialist ION Geophysical (NYSE: IO) surged as high as 14% in early Thursday trading after posting better-than-expected quarterly results.

So what: Fueled by rebounding demand across all of its segments, ION swung to a third-quarter profit compared to a year-ago loss. In fact, for the first time since the hellish fall of 2008, ION's quarterly results were strong enough to make the company profitable (excluding one-time items) year-to-date.

Now what: Today might not be the best time to jump in, but easing into ION on any pullback seems like a smart thing to do. As it becomes tougher and more expensive to extract oil, the long-term demand for seismic mapping services -- like those provided by ION and chief rival CGG Veritas (NYSE: CGV) -- should only increase. Of course, with oil prices surging past $85/barrel and ION CFO Brian Hanson forecasting that the positive momentum "will likely continue into 2011," even the short-term seems tasty.

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