Buzz over the Palm webOS smartphone hitting Verizon Wireless in the first quarter of 2010 along with an upgrade by Kaufman Brothers has upped Palm stock as shares rose 8.82 percent to $12.54 which is a gain of $0.69 reports an article on precentral.

Apparently Kaufman Brothers Shaw Wu boosted his rating of Palm stock to Buy from Hold with a target of $16 and stated that speaking with investors, most have written off Palm as a legitimate competitor and that Android would be the choice of Verizon and others.

Wu went on to say that they believe Palm has a sizable advantage with their multi-touch capability and vertical integration.

All Things Digital posted an article yesterday which stated that Verizon will over the next 6 months offer devices like the Palm Pre and its cousin on their network from Palm.