By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks were mostly
lower Tuesday, despite gains in shares of Netflix Inc. and
Amazon.com
Netflix (NFLX) gained 2% to close at $371.67, while Amazon
(AMZN) rose 1.5% to close at $301.19, bucking a downward slide in
the sector, which saw the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) shed 0.7%
to close at 4,097. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index(MSH) and
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) were each down a
fraction.
After posting gains earlier in the session, shares of Facebook
Inc. (FB) slipped 1% to close at $58.56, despite an upbeat note
from Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali, who reaffirmed a buy
rating on the stock.
One of the factors Squali cited was potential gains from
Facebook's WhatsApp messaging service. The company, which Facebook
recently acquired for $19 billion, "is a multi-billion dollar
opportunity" for the tech giant," he wrote.
"WhatsApp surpassed 500 million users in April with a target of
1 billion plus users before starting to aggressively pursue
monetization," he told clients in a note. "Given the communication
nature of WhatsApp and its high-value proposition, one could easily
see how valuable this platform is."
Google (GOOGL) shares were up a fraction to close at $540.39.
But the sector was weighed down by declining shares of
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Cisco Systems.(CSCO). Twitter (TWTR) fell
1% to close at $31.77.
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