National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) rallied up 1 7/8, or 6 percent, to 33 15/16 Monday after PaineWebber reiterated its "buy" recommendation on the stock and boosted its 12-month price target from $36 a share to $44.
In a research note, PaineWebber said National Semi's "breakthrough in advanced chip packaging has lowered analog chip production costs, the total cost of ownership for customers, and is at least six-12 months ahead of competition and industry standard."
Last quarter, National Semiconductor posted a surprise profit, earning $1.2 million on sales of $481.8 million when most analysts were expecting a loss of 14 cents a share.
First Call consensus expects it to earn 24 cents a share in its second quarter and $1.05 a share in the fiscal year.
Its shares moved up to a 52-week high of 36 1/4 earlier this month after bottoming out at a low of 7 7/16 in April.
Sixteen of the 19 analysts following the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation.
Among other widely held chip stocks, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) gained 3 57/64 to 79 9/16; Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) rose 9/16 to 18 and LSI Logic Inc. (Nasdaq: LSI) picked up 2 3/4 to 55 7/16.
