Shares of MetroPCS Communications Inc., which agreed to merge with T-Mobile USA Inc. last month, rose Friday after a Guggenheim Securities LLC analyst said Sprint Nextel Corp. may make a counteroffer for the company.

Sprint could bid $12 to $13 a share for MetroPCS within the next four weeks, Shing Yin, a Guggenheim analyst in New York, said Friday in a report. Sprint extended its deadline Thursday for a proxy statement relating to a separate deal with Japan’s Softbank Corp. That move supports the idea that Sprint is preparing a MetroPCS bid, Yin said in his report.

In late morning trading in New York, MetroPCS stock was up 3.6 percent at $10.50. The shares, up 17 percent this year through Thursday, traded as high as $10.71 earlier in Friday's session.