By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks finished January on a
mildly negative note Thursday, with Facebook Inc. claiming must of
the day's attention due to negative investor reaction to its latest
earnings report.
The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) ended the day just barely below its
breakeven line of 3,142 and finished the month up by 4%, while the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) slipped 0.3% and the Morgan
Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) also closed down by 0.1%.
Facebook (FB) ended up giving up almost 1%, to close at $30.98.
Several brokers had downgraded the stock following the social
network's fourth-quarter results, which included a forecast for
heavy spending in 2013.
"With our earnings model totally recalibrating, it is time to
take some profits and evaluate the likelihood of potential earnings
upside in future quarters," Jordan Rohan of Stifel Nicolaus wrote
as he cut his rating on the social network to hold from buy,
leaving his $31 price target intact.
But others remained positive. Scott Devitt of Morgan Stanley
bumped up his price target to $34 from $32, writing that the
company "should be able to deliver ad revenue acceleration through
[the first half of 2013] on easier comps."
BlackBerry, which still trades under the name Research In Motion
(RIMM) , slid nearly 6% to close at $12.98. Credit Suisse
downgraded the stock to underperform, a day after the company
unveiled a new line of smartphones for its BlackBerry 10 operating
system that will launch next month.
"Despite recent enthusiasm for RIM's new BB10 devices, we see
limited scope for traction in the hypercompetitive smartphone
market," wrote Kulbinder Garcha of Credit Suisse in a note to
clients.
Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) fell nearly 7% to
close at $12.17 after the company announced that it will release
"Grand Theft Auto V" on Sept. 17. The launch of the highly
anticipated sequel to the best-selling urban action franchise comes
later in the year than the original planned spring release, "in
order to allow additional development time," the company said in a
statement. The title will be available for the Xbox 360 and
PlayStation 3 consoles.
GameStop (GME) shares slid more than almost 2% on the news,but
videogame publisher Electronic Arts (EA) rose 4.3%. The later
release of GTAV may put the title against greater competition in
the busy holiday selling season.
Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) fell 13% after its own quarterly report
that included a downbeat forecast that the company blamed on
slowing orders from major customers such as Apple (AAPL) and
Facebook. At least three brokers downgraded the stock following the
results.
Qualcomm (QCOM) closed with a gain of almost 4%, at $66.02,
after the maker of wireless device chips delivered
better-than-expected results and a positive forecast. Several
analysts raised their price targets on the stock following the
report.
Citrix Systems (CTXS) shares climbed more than 9% to end the day
at $73.16 after the enterprise software maker reported a gain in
earnings and issued a forecast that beat Wall Street's
expectations. The stock was upgraded to a buy rating at Bank of
America/Merrill Lynch.
JDS Uniphase (JDSUD) shares jumped by 17% to close at $14.51
following the company's results, which topped Wall Street's
projections. Needham & Co. upgraded the stock to a buy
rating.
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