DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS and ANALYZE TABLE

We have a complex query that just hangs forever with stats gathered by DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS, however, if stats is gathered by "Analyze table tab_name estimate statistics" or "Analyze table tab_name compute statistics", this query returns back in less than 1 minute. I tried to find the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS equivalence of "Analyze table ...", but didn't find any. The procedures I have tried are:

BEGIN
   DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(ownname => 'owner_name',

                                 tabname => 'table_name',
                                 estimate_percent => AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE,
                                 degree => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_DEGREE,
                                 cascade => DBMS_STATS.AUTO_CASCADE);

I've also tried estimate_percent of 5, 10, 15, 100 with no luck. Version: Oracle 10.2.0.3 64-bit on Linux X86-64

Anybody has any comments on this? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
-Li

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