By Rex Crum SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks put in a late rally Monday, with much of the sector following the pace set by Netflix Inc. and Novell Inc. to close with gains. Netflix (NFLX) shares rose $15.28, or almost 9%, to post an all-time high close of $188.32 after the company said it would begin offering a streaming-only video-subscription plan in the U.S. for $7.99 a month. Netflix also said it would raise the base price of its standard DVD-and-streaming combination plan to $9.99 a month from $8.99 for unlimited monthly rentals and one DVD rental at a time. Other rental plan prices will also increase. Novell (NOVL) shares rose 37 cents, or 6.6%, to $5.96 after the business-software maker agreed to be acquired by Attachmate Corp., a private-equity firm, for $2.2 billion, or $6.10 a share. SanDisk Corp.'s (SNDK) stock rose $2.59 a share, or 6.5%, to $42.57 after R.W. Baird analyst Tristan Gerra raised his rating on the flash-memory developer to outperform from neutral and lifted his price target to $56 a share from $42. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) shares rose 76 cents to $43.25 ahead of the company's quarterly results, due after the market close. Wedbush Moragn analyst Kashuik Roy raised his rating on H-P's stock to outperform from neutral, saying in a research note that he believes the company's management team is "operationally very strong." Other gains came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM). The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) came back from a day of losses to rise almost 14 points to 2,532, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 1% and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) managed a small gain.
