Shares rose on Thursday in a rally some analysts said was spurred by bullish technical signals that the wireless provider's stock may recover ground it lost after reporting disappointing earnings two months ago.
Shares of the No. 3 U.S. wireless company rose as much as 5 percent before yielding ground to finish up 2.9 percent, or 51 cents, at $17.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.
In addition, many option investors turned to bullish strategies such as buying calls, hoping to profit from share gains.
Analysts said there did not appear to be any fundamental reasons why Sprint shares were up, but investors could be becoming more interested in the wireless sector in general or pushing Sprint's stock up for technical reasons.
"The whole wireless space is extremely strong today," said Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson. who also noted that Sprint announced plans to sell three new popular cell phones earlier this week.
"In general Sprint has been really beaten up and some people are saying that at this level there may be some real value here," said Jefferies analyst Jonathan Schildkraut.
On October 4, smaller wireless rival Dobson Communications Corp. (DCEL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) posted subscriber growth that beat analyst expectations. Its shares rose over 19 percent on Thursday.
One analyst said Dobson's news was not necessarily a good sign for Sprint but it may have boosted interest in wireless stocks in general. Another small cellular provider, Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP.O: Quote, Profile, Research), saw its shares rise 4.4 percent on Thursday
