Actuate shares hit 52-week high; stronger 3Q profits, upgraded at JMP Securities
12:20 PM ET - Xinhua Financial News

Shares of Actuate Corp. hit a 52-week high on heavier volume Tuesday after analysts at JMP Securities upgraded the stock to market outperform from market perform, citing Actuate's transformation to an open source software provider, higher operating margins and "strong" acquisition potential.

"[Actuate] also represents a strong acquisition candidate because of its strength within the financial services vertical and its ability to monetize its open-source offerings," the broker said.

JMP raised its price target on the stock to $9 and boosted its 2007 earnings estimate to 32 cents a share, one penny above Wall Street's consensus and its previous estimate.

On Monday, Actuate reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 9 cents a share, topping the mean estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial of 8 cents a share.

Shares of the South San Francisco-based business inelligence software provider rose 12.9% to $8.32 on volume of 876,000. The issue's 30-day average volume is 447,200. Greg Saulnier gs/jw

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