By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks generally advanced
Thursday, with kingpin Apple Inc. on the rise after a buyback
proposal from investor Carl Icahn, but several notable losses came
after earnings or forecasts from the likes of Fusion-io Inc. and
Symantec Corp.
Apple (AAPL) rose $5.26 a share, or 1%, to reach $526.25 after
Icahn published a letter he sent to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook
in which he outlined a proposal for the company to buy back $150
billion worth of its stock.
In the letter, Icahn lauded Cook and Apple, and said his only
major criticism with the company comes from "the size and timeframe
of Apple's buyback program. It is obvious to us that it should be
much bigger and immediate."
Several other tech stocks were getting punished by investors in
the wake of their late-Wednesday quarterly reports.
Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) shares slumped almost 26% to $9.64, after
the data-storage technology company reported disappointing
quarterly results and gave a weak outlook, and said that Chief
Financial Officer Dennis Wolf is leaving the company. J.P. Morgan
analyst Mark Moskowitz cut his rating on Fusion-io's stock to
underweight, or sell, from neutral.
Symantec (SYMC) tumbled 12.5% at $21.54 a share, as the security
software company reported a decline in its fiscal second-quarter
sales and lowered its full-year forecasts.
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) slid almost 11% to $46.28 after
the Internet content-delivery company said its upcoming results
could be affected by pricing negotiations on a new contract with
its largest customer, Apple.
Angie's List Inc. (ANGI) gave up 4.4%, to trade at $14.77 a
share, after the online professional-services referral company
reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter sales and gave a
revenue forecast that fell short of Wall Street analysts'
estimates.
However, the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 19 points to
3,925, with gains coming from sector leaders such as Microsoft
Corp. (MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
Microsoft is scheduled to report its fiscal first-quarter
results after the close of trading Thursday. It will be the first
time Microsoft has given a quarterly report since CEO Steve Ballmer
said in August that he would retire and the company agreed in
September to acquire Nokia Corp.'s (NOK) mobile-handset
business.
Amazon is also set to report quarterly results after the market
closes.
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