Como se combate o populismo? "Com eleições", responde Fukuyama

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Novell Inc.'s stock gained 5 percent on Friday, getting a boost from an upgrade and positives comments from a Banc of America Securities analyst, who said that positives outweigh negatives surrounding the stock at current levels.
With the potential for a stock buyback on the horizon later this year, the upcoming release of a key new product and continued growth in its acquired SuSE Linux business, the company's stock may be poised to rise, according to analyst Kirk Materne.

Materne upgraded his recommendation on the shares to "buy" from "neutral" previously and increased his price target to $8.50 from $7.50.

Shares of the Waltham, Mass.-based network management software company (NOVL: news, chart, profile) jumped 31 cents to close at $6.37.

"We believe the risk/reward is more compelling at current levels and there are a number of potential catalysts on the horizon," Materne said, following a Thursday meeting with Novell management.

Novell, a maker of networking products used to tie computer systems together, is slated to unveil its Novell's Open Enterprise Server next month, the analyst noted. The new server software blends Linux and NetWare networking environments.

"We believe there is room for upside to the current valuation if Novell can even modestly improve its profitability over the next 12 months," he said.

Further, the company's around $2.50 per share in cash limits downside to the share, according to Materne.

The analyst also pointed to reports that IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) could eventually look at Novell as an acquisition target.

While Materne said a combined Novell-IBM would make some strategic sense, he believes it remains too early in the Linux adoption curve for IBM to make such a move.

The Linux operating system is based on open-source technology and has been making headway with companies and governments around the world against proprietary operating systems like Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT: news, chart, profile) dominant Windows.