* Jefferies raises on RIM to "buy" from "hold"
* Brokerage firm lifts price target to $19.50 from $13
* RIM shares surge to new 11-month high on Nasdaq (Adds details about apps, last two paragraphs)
By Euan Rocha
TORONTO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Shares of Research In Motion Ltd rose more than 6 percent after an influentialanalyst raised his rating on the stock on Friday, saying thatRIM's new BlackBerry 10 operating system performed as well orbetter than rivals in recent tests.
Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek, who lifted his stockrating on RIM to "buy" from "hold," believes Wall Street is nowunderestimating the strength of RIM's financial performance forthe coming quarters after the new devices debut on Jan. 30. Healso lifted his price target on RIM to $19.50 from $13.
The move pushed RIM shares up 6 percent to $15.80 in morningtrading on the Nasdaq, while its Toronto-listed shares rose 7percent to C$15.72.
RIM hopes that its re-engineered line of touch-screen andkeyboard devices will win back market share lost to rivals suchas Apple Inc's iPhone and devices powered by GoogleInc's market-leading Android operating system.
Misek, who has been skeptical for some time about RIM's oddsof engineering a turnaround, said recent trials of BB10 testdevices showed vast improvements over its existing smartphones.
"Recent tests and demos have shown a solid browser, smoothtouch interface, and intuitive navigation. We now believe theoperating system performance could be better than or equal toAndroid Jelly Bean and likely on par with iOS 6," said Misek,referring to the latest versions of software powering Androidand Apple devices.
Shares of RIM, which fell as low as $6.22 in September, havemore than doubled in value over the last four months as the BB10launch approaches.
CARRIER ORDERS
In November, Misek had upgraded RIM's stock to "hold" from"underperform," arguing that his checks revealed greater carriersupport for BB10 than expected.
Misek's last upgrade had propelled RIM's shares intodouble-digit territory for the first time in five months and hislatest upgrade pushed the stock to a new 11-month high.
In his latest note, Misek said: "More recent checks indicatethat carriers have also agreed to volume commitments for thefirst two quarters post-launch."
Earlier this month, some top U.S. mobile carriers includingVerizon Communications, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile USA signaled that they would support RIM's BlackBerry 10products.
And earlier this week media reports indicated that Airceland Vodafone Group Plc are gearing up to market the newBB10 devices in India, which has long been a strong growthmarket for RIM even as it has ceded ground in North America andEurope.
Misek said BB10 global orders have risen to between 1million and 2 million a month from about 500,000 a month inearly December. He now views initial sales of 4 million BB10devices a quarter as "not a high hurdle."
Additionally, developer support is proving to be strongerthan expected, M isek said.
"Our checks indicate that large app developers are going toput resources into developing BB10 apps," he said. "Previously,we had thought they would take more of a wait-and-see approachbefore committing resources."
RIM has faced criticism in the past for lacking a strongsuite of high-quality apps.
RIM has said its new platform will boast business focusedapps from Cisco WebEx and SAP among others, along with music,movie and gaming apps.
Social networks LinkedIn, Foursquare, Twitter and Facebookwill all have apps for BB10 at launch, according to RIM. It willannounce some of its other app partners on the launch date. (Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick,Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Gevirtz)
Vodafone (VOD)
