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 ballistic armor specialist Ceradyne (Nasdaq: CRDN) surged 10% in early Wednesday trading, a day after it announced (1) its plans to purchase specialty glass maker VIOX for $27 million and (2) a big order from the U.S. Army.

So what: In addition to being immediately accretive to earnings, Ceradyne CEO David Reed said the VIOX acquisition will fit into its "strategy of product and market diversification." Ceradyne's core body armor business may also be showing signs of renewed life as it announced late Tuesday that it landed a $5.8 million order from the Army, for armor designed to protect against small-arms fire.

Now what: I'd stay on the sidelines for now. The string of news out of Ceradayne certainly bodes well for its earnings prospects, but the stock seems to have a lot of optimism already baked into it. With today's pop, the shares are up 75% over the past year, sport a P/E of 30, and are hitting fresh 52-week highs, so Fools might want to wait for a decent pullback before jumping in.

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