i2 surges on upgrade

i2 Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ITWO) jumped 15 percent Wednesday after an analyst praised a deal with IBM.

Shares gained 15 1/16 to 109 1/2 Wednesday morning. The stock has been suffering a bit with other B2B stocks. The company recently bought Aspect Development (Nasdaq: ASDV) for $9.3 billion, the largest software purchase ever.

Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette raised its rating on software maker to "buy" from "market perform."

On Tuesday, the company said it had completed its acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.'s (NYSE: IBM) software for planning, retail merchandising and replenishment. The deal advances i2's alliance last month with Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA) and IBM.

With the purchase of the IBM software assets, i2 will add about 140 consumer goods and retail customers and build upon its current retail offering.