Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY) Scores 100% Plus, What's Next?

When we first highlighted Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY), back on June 1, the company was trading for $0.12 a share. We highlighted it as being one to watch based on the idea that it was a bit of a risky play, but one that had the potential to – if it's ongoing turnaround ran smoothly – really start to run near to medium term.At last close, the company traded for $0.26 a share. That's a 116% run for readers that took a position in line with our thesis.These gains in place, it's now time to take a look at the stock against the backdrop of a higher valuation and ask the question, what's next? Is there room for appreciation from this point?Let's try and do just that.For those new to this company, it is a technology play with a focus on data management solutions. As we have said on quite a few occasions in the past, these sorts of technology companies, especially as it relates to networking, cloud services, data management, all that sort of thing, can be pretty difficult to interpret from an operational perspective for anyone without some kind of background in the industry. This is one of those companies. We have gone into detail into its operations in the past, so readers looking for a bit of background should check out our previous coverage here.By way of a brief introduction, however, the company has developed a range of technologies, the primary of which right now (and the one on which we are placing a large portion of its forward valuation) is a compression type technology that allows for secure compression of data into smaller packages, essentially turning a standard hard drive into a solid drive, without loss of quality and without risk of security compromise.Before we get to what we expect going forward, we've got a look at what's just driven the run. And in all honesty, we don't have a direct answer to that question. There haven't been any particularly important news releases this week, and the only filing to hit the SEC was this 6K, detailing a credit agreement amendment for one of the company's subsidiaries, an entity called Overland Storage, Inc. It's a $10 million facility, so it's not small change for a company at this end of the spectrum, but it's hardly a 100% revaluation driver.With nothing concrete, then, we have to speculate, and there are a couple of factors on which we can base this speculation.First, there is a special meeting set to take place on June 27, at which shareholders will vote on a range of proposals, the most important of which is a reverse split. We saw Delcath Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCTH) run on the back of a similar proposal being voted down by shareholders, and a number of companies with pending reverse split decisions are gaining strength on the back of what might amount to a potentially similar situation in their own backyard. We expect some of this recent Sphere 3D action is rooted in collateral sentiment spilling over from the Delcath outcome.Second, we think there is some speculative buying ahead of, or maybe more accurately, in anticipation of, some company news. It is likely management would rather avoid a reverse split if possible, and if it can get its share price up to the $1 mark, no split will be necessary.With the recent run, it's not unreasonable to suggest that a decent news stream over the next week could push the company up towards its target threshold. There is a long way to go, but it's far from impossible; especially, if we see continued speculative loading as we have done over the last week.With the short-term inputs noted, we are maintaining our long-term thesis on the stock.Management is in the midst of turning around the company from a top and bottom-line perspective, with costs shrinking and topline continuing to grow year-over-year. The technology that underpins this company's primary offerings is incredibly strong and if management is halfway competent, and we believe it is, then there's some real potential for long-term growth in Sphere 3D.Get the whole story: check out our previous coverage of ANY here.We will be updating our subscribers as soon as we know more. For the latest updates on ANY, sign up below!Image courtesy of Axosoft via FlickrDisclosure: We have no position in ANY and have not been compensated for this article.