Dish Network Shares Gain After Wells Fargo Upgrade

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. gained Tuesday after Wells Fargo Securities upgraded the stock, predicting a bounce-back for the company as it gains market share and the economy improves.

"Our channel checks confirm that Dish is on the road to recovery," Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker told investors in a note. She upgraded the stock to "Outperform" from "Market Perform."

Dish is seen as one of the weaker companies in pay-TV. Its profit slid 81 percent during the second quarter as costs grew, in part because of litigation against TiVo Inc. It did manage to add 26,000 net subscribers, however, the first uptick in five quarters.

Ryvicker said she doesn't expect Dish to add many subscribers in the second half of the year. But she said cable providers will likely do worse.

Dish could also end up pulling ahead of Wall Street forecasts given the company's aggressive marketing, signs of a stabilizing housing market "and, quite frankly, low Street expectations," Ryvicker said.

Shares of Dish, based in Englewood, Colo., rose 61 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $19.12 in afternoon trading.