iHEART STOCK SOARS

After-hours trading on Tuesday pushed iHeartMedia’s stock to more than $20 a share for the first time in the radio behemoth’s history.

The stock spiked more than 13% to close at $19.79 after BofA Securities media analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich moved the company to "buy" from "underperform." The new price target over the next 12 months is $26.

Ehrlich’s bullish prediction rests on iHeart’s ability to get ad spending back to 2019 levels in the next quarter. Drive-time radio listening, meanwhile, has doubled over last year and iHeart’s podcasts continue to pump up its digital revenue growth. The return of live entertainment will also bolster the bottom line.

iHeartMedia was trading at $19.77 when the bell rang Wednesday morning.