bmo expects the company to produce 10.3 million ounces this year:

* Analyst upgrades miner to "outperform"

* Says its development pipeline is "unrivaled"

TORONTO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Shares of Silver Standard Resources (SSO.TO) rose more than 6 percent on Wednesday, after an analyst upgraded his rating on the silver producer to "outperform" on its strong development projects.

In a note to clients, BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Kaip said the Vancouver-based miner boasts an "unrivaled pipeline" of projects."

With three development projects in Latin America, Silver Standard has the potential "to evolve into the fastest growing intermediate silver producer," he wrote.

Late last year, Silver Standard sold its Brucejack and Snowfields gold-copper projects in Canadian province of British Columbia to Pretium Resources (PVG.TO) for C$450 million ($452 million) to focus on silver production.

The company is expected to produce 10.3 million ounces of silver equivalent in 2011.

Spot silver prices rose to a 30-year high at $31.22 an ounce in early January and are expected to rally toward $40 an ounce in 2011, according to analysts

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