UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Caris begins Oracle with above average

July 1 (Reuters) - Caris & Co began coverage of Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) with an "above average" rating, saying the software maker is well positioned to benefit from any recovery in global IT spending and can elevate its market position with the purchase of Sun Microsystems Inc (JAVA.O).

Shares of Oracle, run by billionaire Larry Ellison, were up 2 percent at $21.87 in morning trade Wednesday on Nasdaq.

Oracle's acquisition strategy has powered growth and reduced competition, analyst Curtis Shauger said, adding that the company is likely to benefit as demand for databases strengthens.

Shauger set a price target of $25 on Oracle stock, and said the long-awaited release of the database technology vendor's Fusion Apps software could catalyze shares.

Fusion Apps would be sold as traditional software, but is designed to allow customers to access a wide range of programs and services over the Internet, hosted at Oracle data centers.

The software maker's acquisition of Sun Microsystems will lead to market share gains, especially against Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), the analyst said. (Reporting by Manasi Phadke in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)