Sprint jumps along with other telecoms

Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. surged -- though the stock is still down more than 70 percent since the start of the year -- as the rest of the telecommunications sector also advanced Monday.

Sprint, which is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Friday, saw its shares jump 87 cents, or 27.8 percent, to $4 in Monday trading. Trading volume was low, at slightly above half of the daily average. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $2.87 and $17.46.

Sprint did not announce any major news on Monday.

Patrick Comack, an analyst with Zachary Investment Research, said with such low volume Sprint's gain may just be a case of people "jumping back into beat-up stocks." Sprint, after all, is "pretty much the most beat-up of all telecom stocks," he added. Comack has a "Buy" rating on Sprint.

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. all advanced. Qwest, for one, rose 24 cents, or 8.3 percent, to $3.13 -- though the stock is still off more than 50 percent year-to-date.

In a note to investors Monday, Wachovia analyst Jennifer M. Fritzsche called AT&T and Verizon "safe haven" stocks, though she said of the two she favors AT&T. Verizon, she wrote, "has controlled what it can quite well in this environment (but) we remain on the side lines here until we see how the close of the AllTel deal."

Verizon Wireless has agreed to buy Alltel Corp. in a $28 billion deal that would create the nation's largest wireless carrier.

"In terms of (Qwest), while the stock remains incredibly inexpensive on almost every valuation metric, we believe investors would be better served with AT&T or Verizon given the more stable balance sheet and lower overall leverage," she wrote.

Shares of AT&T rose $1.04, or 3.9 percent, to $27.81, while Verizon rose $1.08, or 3.6 percent, to $30.75.

Verizon Wireless is a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone Group PLC.