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Ingram Stock Rises Over Softbank Ties

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Ingram Micro Inc. shares rose 12.6% Tuesday, adding to Monday’s 8.3% gain, as investors focused on the battered Santa Ana technology distributor’s nearly 1-million-share stake in Japan’s Softbank Corp.

“Softbank has had a tremendous run recently,” said Joel Pitt, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. “A lot of people are looking at that as an additional value enhancement [to Ingram’s stock].”

Ingram’s shares gained $1.81 Tuesday to close at $15.75 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. About 3.4 million shares, nearly six times the average daily volume for the past three months, traded hands.

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Ingram held about $330 million of Softbank stock at the end of the third quarter, Pitt estimates. He believes the value of the holding has swelled to more than $1.5 billion.

“Softbank’s stock is now at $1,700,” said Tom Cal, an analyst with Wit Soundview in Stamford, Conn.

Ingram is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings Thursday. Analysts expect to get an update from the company on its Softbank investment, as well as on its search for a new chief executive.

Additionally, Cal said, some investors are starting to get excited about Ingram’s investment in a start-up called Viacore.net, a planned “hub” that will be used to facilitate implementation of a new common language for the distribution industry, called RosettaNet.

Ingram had been trading near its 52-week low of $10 a share, reached Oct. 1, for some time.

Though still profitable, the company has seen gross margins decline as weaker competitors cut prices. In this jittery environment, the company’s mum stance on earnings guidance hasn’t helped its stock.

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