By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Amazon.com Inc. and chip stocks
weighed down the tech sector on Friday, but the group got a lift
from rising shares of Facebook Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple
Inc.
Amazon (AMZN) reported results that beat Wall Street estimates,
but analysts noted signs of slower growth. That was enough to sink
the stock, which shed more than 5% Friday, though some analysts
remained upbeat about the company's direction.
"We continue to see the company benefiting from the secular
shifts of retail, advertising, computing power and infrastructure
moving to the Internet/Cloud," Topeka Capital analyst Victor
Anthony said in a note.
Meanwhile, chip stocks headed south, weighing down the tech
sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was down more
than 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gave up a fraction
to stand at 3,275. The benchmark was poised to end the week with a
2% gain.
Among the top chip decliners was KLA-Tencor (KLAC),shares of
which were down more than 9%. The semiconductor capital equipment
posted a decline in earnings and revenue on Tuesday.
Shares of Altera Corp. (ALTR) also fell more than 5% after the
chip company reported a weaker-than-expected sales outlook. Also in
the red were shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , Intel Corp.
(INTC) and Texas Instruments.(TXN)
On the upside, Facebook Inc. (FB) saw its stock rise 3%. Raymond
James analyst Aaron Kessler upgraded the stock to strong buy,
citing "the expectation for increasing monetization driven by new
ad formats" and "increasing ad load."
"We believe Facebook constrained its ad load in the fourth
quarter," he wrote.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares also traded up more than 1%, while
Hewlett-Packard (HGH.XX) rose more than 3%, the best performer on
the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow was up 16 points at
14,718.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires