Monster Day for TMP Worldwide

That's one giant leap for Monster.

Shares in TMP Worldwide (TMPW Quote), the parent company of the Monster.com employment Web site, rose as high as 33% Wednesday. The stock's jump came a day after the company released better-than-expected quarterly results, and the day before the company expects to change its name.

At midday, shares were trading at $17.45, up $3.87, or 29%.

After the market closed Tuesday, TMP reported earnings, excluding a restructuring charge, of 9 cents per share for the first quarter ended March 31, beating the Thomson First Call 6-cent consensus. Revenue of $168.9 million for the quarter also beat forecasts, though fees and commissions declined 7% from year-ago levels.

On Wednesday morning, Thomas Weisel Partners upgraded the company's rating from peer perform to outperform.

TMP Worldwide, which spun off its staffing and executive search operations last month as Hudson Highland Group (HHGP Quote), says it will change its name Thursday to Monster Worldwide. Its Nasdaq symbol will change to MNST.