Shares of Rambus gained 7%, or $1.78, to $27.15, on volume of 10 million shares, more than double its average volume of 5 million shares. In the last 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $46.99 and $10.22.

Rambus stock has fallen more than 35% since winning the patent infringement suit in late April against Hynix, a decline Hambrecht's Amir called "puzzling" but perhaps due to other factors, such as management miscommunication.

WR Hambrecht makes a market in the shares of the company.

Rambus, which makes most of its revenue from royalties on its products, teamed up with Intel Corp. (INTC) in the mid-'90s to persuade other computer makers to use RDRAM by paying a royalty or license fee. However, major companies opted for different and royalty-free technologies, called DDR-SDRAM. According to Rambus, the other companies colluded to raise the price of RDRAM and reduce the price of DDR, subsequently raising the price of the latter once it had gained market acceptance.

Chip makers originally mentioned in the antitrust suit filed in May 2004 include Infineon Technologies AG (IFX), Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technology Inc. (MU) and Hynix. Samsung was added as a co-defendant last year. Rambus has settled its dispute with Infineon and its parent company Siemens AG (SI).

Rambus' extensive courtroom drama dates back to August 2000, when Hynix and Micron separately sued Rambus within days of each other. Both companies argued Rambus' patents for memory chips were invalid. Rambus quickly counter-sued, claiming the companies infringed on its patents that speed up memory. The company won a patent infringement case against Hynix at the end of April.

Cohen said Rambus had long been seen as the "bad guys", as they had remained silent during years of litigation and did not engage in sucessful public relations.

"While Rambus still has many significant legal obstacles in front of it, we remain optimistic that Rambus will prevail in the long run," Cohen wrote in a research report rating the stock at buy.

-By Henry Sanderson; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4046; henry.sanderson@dowjones.com

(Donna Fuscaldo contributed to this report.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-23-06 1606ET