By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
Cognizant Tech, RetailMeNot also among decliners
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks ended up putting in a
mixed trading performance Wednesday, with Groupon Inc. and Sprint
Corp. notching big losses after the online daily deal company
released disappointing earnings and Sprint said it would drop plans
to acquire T-Mobile.
Groupon (GRPN) trimmed its losses, but fell by almost 13% to
close at $6.17 a share, after it reported Tuesday a second-quarter
profit of a penny a share, excluding one-time items, on $751.6
million in revenue. While Groupon's earnings met Wall Street
analysts' forecasts, its sales fell short of the consensus estimate
of $762 million.
Groupon also said that for its third quarter it expects to break
even or earn up to two cents a share, on sales in a range of $720
million to $770 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast
Groupon to earn 3 cents a share on $760 million in revenue.
Mobile-phone network operator Sprint (S) slumped by almost 19%
to end the day at $5.90 a share after it scrapped its effort to
acquire T-Mobile (TMUS) and said it would replace Chief Executive
Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure, a billionaire investor who
previously ran mobile-phone distributor Brightstar Corp. T-Mobile
shares fell almost 9% following the announcements.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) was also in the red,
falling more than 12.6%, to $42.31, after the IT services company
cut its revenue growth forecast for the year.
Online coupon clearinghouse RetailMeNot Inc. (SALE) fell another
4.5%, to close at $17.34 a share after falling more than 28% on
Tuesday in the wake of disappointing quarterly results.
Gains came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Oracle Corp. (ORCL),
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Pandora Media Inc. (P).
AOL Inc. (AOL) rose by 7.5%, to close at $41.92 a share, after
the online media company reported a 12% increase in quarterly
revenue, led by advertising sales of $451.7 million.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 2 points to end the day
at 4,355. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) managed to eke
out a small gain.
More must-read news from MarketWatch:
RetailMeNot's coupon business clipped by Google search
changes
Sprint ends its pursuit of T-Mobile, changes CEO
Groupon may not be the bargain stock it seems
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires