NEW YORK - Shares of Dell Inc. climbed Thursday after the computer maker was upgraded by an analyst at Cowen and Co., who said the company's business is back on track.

Dell has been focused on restructuring its business in a plan that includes thousands of layoffs and cutting costs by $3 billion. Once the world's No. 1 PC maker, the company fell behind Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2006.

Analyst Louis R. Miscioscia upgraded Dell to "Outperform" from "Neutral" and said he thinks the company's shares can outperform the market by 25 percent over the next year.

Dell, he noted, cut 3,700 jobs in the fiscal first quarter that ended in April, "which should drive $65 million in quarterly (operating expense) savings." And more job cuts are coming. The analyst estimates that another 1,900 will take place in the current quarter.

"On the gross margin side, Dell is in the process of launching a new line of consumer retail PCs, which should greatly help improve the marginally profitable retail businesses, adding $30 million quarterly," Miscioscia added.

On the corporate side, he said, the new versions of the company's new E-Series notebooks "will provide a complete product refresh, the first in years and should increase customer interest and reduce product cost."

Shares of the Round Rock, Texas-based company rose 95 cents, or 4 percent, to $24.95. The stock has traded between $18.13 and $30.77 in the past year