Two analyst reports released today and Friday lent favorable views of the WiMax market, and stocks responded by trading upward.

McAdams Wright Ragen said today that it has initiated coverage on Kirkland-based Clearwire with a "buy," setting a 12-month price target at $28 a share.

On Friday, C.E. Unterberg, Towbin analyst Richard Church wrote in a note to clients that he was upgrading the shares of WiMax equipment maker Alvarion to "buy" from "market perform."

Clearwire increased 89 cents today to close at $24.12 a share.

Alvarion jumped 42 cents today to $11.58.

In a note to investors, McAdams Wright Ragen said that although Clearwire is in its early stages, it appears to be well positioned.

Sid Parakh wrote:

"Clearwire has a strong experienced management team that has successfully executed scalable and replicable business models, as evidenced from prior ventures as well as progress made in several markets launched over the last couple of years, giving us increased conviction in our BUY recommendation."

Alavrion, an Israeli wireless broadband provider, got a boost for being associated with a high-growth market, even though it isn't involved in WiMax rollouts with Sprint Nextel or Clearwire, according to an AP story.

"We believe Alvarion is the best-positioned pure-play on wireless broadband adoption and should see significant growth as WiMax gains traction," Church wrote.