By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks picked up more gains
by midday of Wednesday's abbreviated trading session, boosted by a
broad-market uptick and gains at several large-cap players such as
Apple, Microsoft and Facebook.
The Dow jumped more than 80 points ahead of July 4 break. The
Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 0.6% to 3,454 while the Morgan
Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) was up 0.7% and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) picked up 0.8%.
Apple (AAPL) , Microsoft (MSFT) , Facebook (FB) , IBM (IBM)
Cisco (CSCO) and Oracle (ORCL) were all trading up more than 1% by
midday.
ARM Holdings PLC (ARMHY) , which designs chip products for use
in mobile devices, was up more than 3.7% to $37.77 after UBS
upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Analyst Gareth Jenkins noted
that the stock has slid about 30% from its peak in late-May on
concerns about chip giant Intel (INTC) gaining more traction in the
mobile market.
"We do not see anything having fundamentally changed in the ARM
investment case," he wrote in a report, adding that he already had
modeled for Intel "winning market share in key markets and assume
ARM achieves little success" in the PC and server markets.
"Moreover, several positives remain including ARM's ability to
penetrate new areas (networking, microcontrollers) and to benefit
from low end smart-phone adoption, which we see as likely to be
driven by the ARM partners rather than Intel," he wrote.
Qualcomm (QCOM) , a key ARM partner, was trading up 0.6% to
$61.32.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) jumped more than 5.8% to $7.08 after
scoring an upgrade to neutral from Macquarie Capital. Analyst Kevin
Smithen cited "increased likelihood for a takeout" by either
T-Mobile (TMUS) or Dish Network (DISH) as part of the reason for
his move.
Groupon (GRPN) shares rose 3% to $9.23 -- extending a run that
has added 23% to the daily deal provider's market value over the
past two weeks.
BlackBerry (RIMM) shares lost 1.3% to $9.57 -- continuing a
downward run since the company reported disappointing quarterly
results last Friday. The stock has shed 34% of its value since that
report.
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