Xunlei Ltd. (XNET.US) fell off our radar screen long ago, after the company largely ditched its original video streaming services and made a move into the cloud with a shared-resources business model that looked interesting but failed to generate much excitement. In that process, the company’s market value dipped below the $100 million mark, under which we generally don’t follow listed companies.

But the stock has come roaring back lately, living up to its name that means “thunder” in Chinese, harkening back to its days when it was at the forefront of China’s online video revolution. The shares have risen more than fivefold over the last year, including a 96% jump over the last three days after the company released its latest earnings report for the second quarter, giving it a market value of $550 million.

In a somewhat ironic twist, investors seem to be getting excited as Xunlei inches closer to returning to its roots as an online video company. The company made an important move in that direction in June when it completed its 500 million yuan ($70 million) acquisition of Hupu, a platform providing sports media and data. But unlike its earlier foray into the sensitive Chinese online video market, Xunlei seems to be setting its sights on less regulated foreign markets with its latest online video drive.