GeoEye Shares Popped: What You Need to Know

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 satellite imagery company GeoEye (Nasdaq: GEOY  ) surged 15% in intraday trading today on a rumor from dealReporter that it has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale.

So what: I wouldn't read too much into the rumor, but when you couple GeoEye's potent prospects with its poor year-to-date stock price performance, the company seems like an inexpensive source of growth for one of the aerospace and defense giants. In fact, dealReporter specifically singled out the likes of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT  ) , Harris (NYSE: HRS  ) , and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC  ) as possible suitors.

Now what: Fools know never to buy into buyout buzz alone. That said, GeoEye's strong fundamentals, high barriers of entry, and reasonable forward P/E still make it an attractive long-term opportunity. Of course, given today's euphoric surge, waiting for a pullback seems prudent.

Interested in more info on GeoEye? Add it to your watchlist.