Image source: Ferro Corporation.

What: Shares of specialty materials company Ferro Corporation (FOE) jumped as much as 17% today after a potential buyout was revealed.

So what: Bloomberg reported this morning that Apollo Global Management LLC approached Ferro in the last few weeks about a potential buyout. Management reportedly rebuffed the offer, but this opens the door to another bid, especially if activist investors get their way.  

FrontFour Capital Group LLC has a 3% stake in Ferro and sent a letter to the company's management on Monday, urging it to pursue strategic alternatives. That could mean partnerships or an outright sale of the company, so this shareholder could push for changes at the company.

Now what: The move today is just speculation that something will change in the future, but there's no guarantee that that's true. Buyout interest could simply die out and the jump in shares could fade away just as fast. So, it should be noted that a strategic change in Ferro Corporation could happen in the future; today's speculation alone isn't a reason to change your investment thesis.