By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks claimed the high
ground Tuesday as shares of Facebook Inc. jumped after the company
announced a new program for publishing mobile games -- bring the
stock close to its IPO price from over a year ago.
Facebook (FB) shares were up 4.6% to $37.08 by Tuesday
afternoon, within reach of the $38-a-share price the company set
for its IPO in May 2012. The stock has been on a tear since
reporting quarterly results on July 24 that exceeded Wall Street
analysts' forecasts.
In less than a week since that report, Facebook's stock has
risen more than 41%.
In a blog posting on Tuesday, Facebook said it was launching a
pilot program called Facebook Mobile Games Publishing, in an effort
to aid small-and-medium sized mobile-game developers, in exchange
for a cut of the revenue generated from those games.
"Through the program, we will work with select game developers
and provide promotional support for their games in placements
across our mobile apps," Facebook said in the blog post.
Sprint Corp. and CommVault Systems Inc. were also having a good
day in the wake of those companies' quarterly results.
Sprint (S), the No. 3. mobile-phone carrier in the U.S., rose
2.4%, to $5.88 a share after the company reported a quarterly loss
that grew from the year-ago period due to costs associated with
closing down its Nextel network. Sprint, which also sold almost 80%
of its shares to Japan's Softbank Corp., said it lost more
customers in the quarter than several analysts had forecast.
CommVault (CVLT) posted one of the tech sector's strongest
gains, as its shares rose 9% to $84.25. Before the market opened,
the enterprise data storage provider reported a quarterly profit of
40 cents a share, on $134.4 million in revenue, to top the
estimates of Wall Street analysts, who forecast CommVault to earn
35 cents a share on sales of $132.2 million.
Harris Corp. (HRS) climbed almost 7% to $56.44 a share after the
communications-equipment maker reported better-than-expected
quarterly results prior to the start of trading.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 23 points to 3,622, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 1.2% and the Morgan
Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) also advanced.
Declines came from PMC-Sierra Inc. (PMCS), which fell 7% to
$6.52 a share. After Monday's market close, the chipmaker reported
a second-quarter loss that grew from the year-ago quarter and its
sales fell below Wall Street analysts' forecasts.
Corning Inc. (GLW) shares gave up 2% to trade at $15.05. Before
the market opened, Corning reported a 35% increase in
second-quarter earnings as it said it benefited from increased
sales of its Gorilla Glass for smartphones.
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) was off by 2.5%, at $54.01. Goldman Sachs
analyst James Schneider cut his rating on the flash memory
chipmaker to neutral, saying that "greater NAND supply may be added
in the next few quarters than we previously assumed, which could
drive meaningful near-term price declines."
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) was up by 1.3%, and Carbonite Inc. (CARB)
edged up by six cents a share, while Take-Two Interactive Software
Inc. (TTWO) was at its breakeven point of $16.97. All three
companies are scheduled to report quarterly results after the close
of trading.
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