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 7.2% to close at $254.81, 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 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gave up a fraction to close at 3,279. The benchmark ended the week up 2.3%.

Among the top chip decliners was KLA-Tencor (KLAC), whose shares were down 6.8% to close at $52.11. The semiconductor capital equipment posted a decline in earnings and revenue on Tuesday.

Shares of Altera Corp. (ALTR) also fell 5.3% to close at $31.20 after the chip company reported a weaker-than-expected sales outlook. Expedia (EXPE) saw its stock fall 10% to close at $58.56 after the online travel site's outlook raised worries about its Hotwire asset.

Also in the red were shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Texas Instruments.(TXN)

On the upside, Facebook Inc. (FB) saw its stock rise 2.7% to close at $26.85. 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.

Zynga (ZNGA) shares also rose, up 7% to close at $3.35. Apple Inc. (AAPL) also traded up 2.2% to close at $417.20, while Hewlett-Packard (HGH.XX) rose 2% to close at $19.97, the best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow was up 12 points closing at 14,713.

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