Why Monster Worldwide Inc. Stock Popped Today

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 Monster Worldwide were up 8% as of 1:45 p.m. EST Tuesday after the online job services specialist reported mixed fourth-quarter results and encouraging guidance. The stock had surged 13.8% earlier in the day.

So what: Quarterly revenue fell 6% year over year to $186.2 million, hurt by a $4 million negative impact from foreign currency exchange. That translated to adjusted earnings of $0.07 per share. Analysts, on average, had only expected earnings of $0.06 per share on sales of $192.6 million.

For the current quarter, Monster expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.05 to $0.09, which is in line with analysts' expectation for EPS of $0.07.

Monster also announced a new series of cost-saving initiatives including a global workforce reduction of roughly 300 employees, or 7% of its full-time staff, as well as consolidation of its office facilities and added controls for continuing discretionary spending, office, and general expenses. All told, these initiatives should result in annualized savings of $38 million to $45 million, with the full impact realized beginning in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Now what: It's hard to complain about streamlining operations, but investors should keep in mind that before Monster can realize that savings it will need to record cumulative pre-tax cash charges in the range of $18 million to $23 million. The majority of those charges will occur in the first half of 2015. In the end, given its current challenges and impending restructuring, I personally prefer to keep Monster Worldwide on my watch list to see how its transition progresses over the next few quarters.

The article Why Monster Worldwide Inc. Stock Popped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.