By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Losses weighed on tech stocks
Friday, with mild gains from bellwether Apple Inc. unable to
reverse the sector's overall negative course.
Apple (AAPL) rose 1.7%, to $439.93 even though its top rival
Samsung made a splash late Thursday with the unveiling of its
Galaxy S4 smartphone. Several analysts that cover Apple remained
upbeat about the company's mobile-phone prospects even with the
launch of the Galaxy S4. See: Apple shares up despite Galaxy S4
threat.
Groupon Inc. (GRPN) shares also performed well, rising 4.5%, to
$5.31. The online daily deal company received a positive
endorsement from noted Legg Mason investor Bill Miller, who while
on the CNBC cable channel said he liked Groupon's stock "a lot" and
noted the company has $1.2 billion in cash and no debt.
But Apple and Groupon were among the day's outliers, as
investors reacted negatively to the Labor Department saying
consumer prices in February rose 0.7%, the highest gain since June
2009. A surprise spike in gasoline prices was among the main
reasons for the overall price increase. See: Inflation higheset in
more than three years.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell more than 13 points to
3,245, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up
1.6%.
One of the biggest percentage drops among tech stocks came from
solid-state-drive maker Stec Inc. (STEC), which fell 14%, to $4.72
a share. On Thursday, Stec reported a wider quarterly loss and the
company's top shareholder, Balch Hill LLC, called from for Stec
co-founders Mark Moshayedi and Manouch Moshaeydi to resign from the
company's board of directors. Balch Hill holds a 9% stake in
Stec.
Online professional-services recommendation company Angie's List
Inc. (ANGI) fell almost 4%, to $19.12. Late Thursday, Angie's List
said Chief Financial Officer Robert Millard would step down from
his job at the end of the quarter. Company controller Charles Hundt
will serve as interim CFO until a replacement for Millard is
found.
Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, who recently initiated
coverage of Angie's List with an outperform rating and $25-a-share
target price, said Millard's departure as CFO was "a surprise,
given that there was nothing really negative of late" to come from
the company. See: Angie's List gets high marks as shares rise.
AOL Inc. (AOL) shares were down by more than 3% at $35.35. Late
Thursday, comScore released its February search query statistics
showing AOL market share remaining flat with January's results at
1.7%. Google Inc. (GOOG) held on to the top spot, with a 67.5%
market share, up from 67% in January.
EBay Inc. (EBAY) fell 2%, to $50.75 a share and continued with a
week of erratic market action for the online retailer. See: EBay
comes back from "overdone" market reaction.
Losses also came from Seagate Technology (STX), Netflix Inc.
(NFLX), KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO).
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