By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
were among the big-name tech stocks that rose Wednesday as
investors remained positive about the sector bellwethers in the
wake of their latest earnings reports.
Apple (AAPL) climbed more than 2% to $96.97 after reporting late
Tuesday a fiscal third-quarter profit of $7.75 billion, or $1.28 a
share, on revenue of $37.43 billion. During the same period a year
ago, Apple earned $6.9 billion, or $1.07 a share, on $35.32 billion
in sales. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Apple to earn
$1.23 a share on revenue of $37.98 billion.
Apple gave a slightly disappointing fourth-quarter revenue
forecast, saying it expects sales of between $37 billion and $40
billion, while analysts were looking for $40.6 billion in
revenue.
Some analysts said Apple investors are at risk if the company
doesn't deliver on hotly anticipated new products such as the
iPhone 6 and the so-called iTime, which is rumored to be due out
this fall. However, upbeat sales of iPhones and Mac computers
helped Apple's case that the company is setting itself up for a
strong new product lineup through the rest of the year.
"[Chief Executive] Tim Cook did not explicitly talk about new
product categories," said analyst Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray.
"[But] We continue to expect two larger screen iPhones, an iWatch,
and a possible payments platform."
Microsoft (MSFT) rose 1% to $45.31 following the software
giant's fiscal fourth-quarter report on Tuesday. Microsoft reported
a profit of $4.6 billion, or 55 cents a share, on revenue of $23.4
billion, compared with earnings of $4.97 billion, or 59 cents a
share, on $19.9 billion in sales a year ago. Analysts surveyed by
FactSet had forecast Microsoft to earn 60 cents a share on $23
billion in revenue.
Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brendan Barnicle raised his
rating on Microsoft to outperform from sector perform, citing the
company's progress in its cloud-based software offerings.
Facebook Inc. (FB) rose more than 1% to $70.08 a share ahead of
the social-networking company's second-quarter results, due after
the close of trading.
Chip stocks were in the red, with Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) off by more
than 14% at $41.23. The company reported first-quarter results that
exceeded expectations, but gave a weaker-than-expected sales
outlook for its second quarter.
Other chip stocks in the red included Altera Corp. (ALTR), down
more than 3%, ST Microelectronics (STM), which fell 6% and Intel
Corp. (INTC), off by almost 1%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose almost 20 points to
4,475, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was down by
1.6%.
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