By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gains from Apple Inc. stood out
among a broad slate of advancers in the tech sector Tuesday and
investors reacted positively to the company's better-than-expected
earnings results.
Apple (AAPL) shares rose more than 2% to $101.91 a share in the
wake of the company's late-Monday report. For the quarter ended in
September, Apple reported a profit of $1.42 a share on $42.1
billion in revenue, up from earnings of $1.18 a share on $37.5
billion in sales in the same period a year ago. The results also
topped the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet, who forecast
Apple to earn $1.30 a share on revenue of $40 billion.
Apple's results were fueled by a 16% gain in iPhone shipments,
which totaled 39.3 million units, and a strong performance by
company's line of Mac computers, as Apple sold 5.5 million Macs, a
21% increase from a year ago. Analysts that follow Apple said the
company has reached a point that its competitors may never be able
to catch up to.
Printing-technology company Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) was
also having a good day of it, as its shares rose 6% to $42.04.
Before the market opened, Lexmark reported a third-quarter profit
of $1.05 a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $918.1
million, which exceeded analysts estimates of a profit of 92 cents
a share on $890 million in sales.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) was up by 1% at $39.75 a share ahead of the
company's third-quarter results, due after the close of trading.
Wall Street analysts estimate Yahoo will report earnings of 32
cents a share on $1.05 billion in sales for the quarter.
IBM Corp. (IBM) shares were one of the day's big decliners,
falling more than 3% to $163.34. IBM remained in the red for a
second-straight day after reporting disappointing quarterly results
and abandoning its earnings goals for 2015. (Read more about the
challenges facing IBM in Rex On Techs:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-delivers-tricks-instead-of-treats-2014-10-20.)
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 55 points, or
1.3%, to 4,370. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up
by almost 2%.
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