** Lynas Rare Earths' LYC.AX shares soar 16% to A$9.63

** Jumped nearly 20% earlier in session, biggest intraday pct gain since April 2020

** LYC is second-highest pct gainer on benchmark S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO, which is flat

** Jefferies upgrades LYC to "buy" from "underperform"; raises PT to A$10.00 from A$6.40

** Highlights LYC could be "next beneficiary" of U.S. support after MP Materials MP.N secures multi-billion dollar contract to build end-to-end rare earth magnet supply chain

** MP ended 50.6% higher overnight

** MP-U.S. deal prices rare earths at 2x China spot price, likely to benefit LYC - Jefferies

** Notes LYC's rare earth processing facility in Texas to come online by 2026

** Jefferies, top sector analyst for rating accuracy, and is only one to upgrade so far, per data compiled by LSEG

** Average rating of 14 analysts is "hold"; median PT A$8.98 - data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, LYC up 28.9% vs mining sub-index's .AXMM 4.2% gain

(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil in Bengaluru)

((nichiket.sunil@thomsonreuters.com))