An analyst released a report today calling Bellevue-based InfoSpace "undervalued and misunderstood."

In response to that statement, Scott Sutherland, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold." It is maintaining a price target of $19 a share.

InfoSpace's stock jumped 52 cents or nearly 3.5 percent in afternoon trading today to $15.42.

To be sure, the company has gone through a series of transitions: It lost a major revenue after losing its ringtone business with Cingular; it laid off 250 people to become a much smaller company; shareholders protested that it was sitting on a bunch of cash; InfoSpace issued a $200 million special dividend.

Sutherland wrote: "We are upgrading shares of InfoSpace to BUY from HOLD, as we believe the company is nearing the end of a tough transition and that the recent sell off is overdone."

Part of InfoSpace's focus going forward is in providing back-end technology to wireless carriers, including mobile search.

"We believe revenue from mobile search and directories are emerging growth opportunities," he wrote.

Disclaimer: Wedbush Morgan said it does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports, and that investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of
this report. Investors should consider this report as only a single factor in making their investment decision.