By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
Technology stocks were mostly higher Friday as shares of
Hewlett-Packard Co. rose sharply on better-than-anticipated
quarterly results.
H-P (HPQ) rose 12.3% to close at $19.20 a day after beating Wall
Street's expectations although analysts pointed to longer-term
challenges for the technology powerhouse.
"H-P posted a surprising beat and raise quarter, albeit off a
low bar with consensus looking for sizable year-over-year revenue
and earnings-per-share declines," Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu said in a
note. "Nonetheless we view it as progress made. The bad news is
that all business segments declined and will likely continue to see
pressure through fiscal year 2013."
H-P quickly emerged as the best performer on the Dow Jones
Industrial Average (DJI), which rose 120 points. The stock also was
the top gainer on the S&P 500 (SPX), which was up a
fraction.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was up 30 points, or 1%, to
close at 3,162. But the benchmark ended the week with a 1%
loss.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was up 1.3%, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 2.1%.
The chip sector got a lift from shares of Texas Instruments Inc.
(TXN), which were up 5.2%, closing at $34.18. Late Thursday, the
Dallas-based chip maker announced that it has hiked its quarterly
dividend by 33%.
Another semiconductor company, Marvell Technology Group (MRVL),
saw its stock rise 4.4% to close at $9.89 a day after posting
upbeat results.
On the downside, shares of Netflix Inc. (NFLX) were down 4% to
close at $179.86, one of the top decliners on the S&P 500.
Shares of BlackBerry (RIMM), formerly known as Research In
Motion, were also down 5% to close at $13.18. MKM Partners
downgraded the stock to a sell from neutral on challenges posed by
the company's BlackBerry 10 operating system.
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