GigaMedia Stock Hits Seven-Year High

Online casino corporation GigaMedia's stock reaches heights unseen since the dot-com bubble burst.

Shares of GigaMedia Limited, a Chinese online casino company, hit a seven-year high of $22.83 last Thursday, following Bear Stearns analyst James Rhee's upgrade of the stock to an "Outperform" rating. In his report, Rhee cited regulatory relaxation in Europe, as the European Commission continues to pursue the free-trade policies. Despite traditionally being lumped with European stocks, a surge in the company's Asian markets netted an improved financial quarter in August, a time when the stock was in the $10-$11 range. Rhee's notes this global diversification as a sign of the company becoming invest-able for the long term.

Additionally, a boom in Chinese companies has rocketed GigaMedia up 48 percent in the past six months. The stock closed at $21.32 today, down 1.52 percent. Rhee's new price target for the end of the year is $27.