By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) --Gains from Facebook Inc.
highlighted activity in the tech sector Tuesday, as the social
network announced a new program for publishing mobile games and its
shares closed just 37 cents shy of their IPO price from over a year
ago.
Facebook (FB) shares closed with a gain of $2.20, or more than
6%, at $37.63, to almost match 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 their quarterly results.
Sprint (S), the No. 3. mobile-phone carrier in the U.S., rose
7.3%, to $6.16 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 9.6% to end the day at $85.04. 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 8% to $56.97 a share after the
communications-equipment maker reported better-than-expected
quarterly results before the start of trading.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) ended the day with a gain of
17 points to close at 3,616, 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 6% to
$6.59 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 1.3% to close at $15.19.
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) shed 1.6% to close at $54.53. 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) shares closed with a gain of 1.5%, and
Carbonite Inc. (CARB) edged up almost 1%, while Take-Two
Interactive Software Inc. (TTWO) shares added 2 cents to end the
day at $16.99. All three companies reported quarterly results after
the close of trading.
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