Red Hat Gets a Boost

Shares of Red Hat(RHAT Quote) rose on heavy trading Monday, as investors bid the stock up in anticipation of Tuesday's second-quarter earnings report.

At the close, shares of the Linux software developer were up $1.04, or 4.2%, to $26.07, although the stock was down 27 cents after hours. At more than 6 million shares, volume was 70% higher than average.

The stock was aided by a flurry of positive notes from sell-side analysts at Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Global Equities Research.

Several analysts noted that shares of Red Hat have been flat since the company reported first-quarter financials results in late June. Oracle(ORCL Quote), meanwhile, which is rumored to be preparing its own version of Linux, has appreciated by 20%, and the Goldman Sachs Software Index is up 17% in the same time period. ...