By Dan Gallagher
Tech stocks jumped Monday, helped by an acquisition deal from
Hewlett-Packard Co. and strong gains in the chip sector.
Before the open, H-P (HPQ) confirmed plans to buy
security-software maker ArcSight Inc. (ARST) for $43.50 per share,
or a total enterprise value of $1.5 billion. Rumors of the deal had
been reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. ArcSight is based
near H-P's Silicon Valley headquarters.
The deal represented an all-time high for ArcSight's shares, and
a 54% premium over the stock's value since late August, when
reports first surfaced that the company was seeking a buyer. The
deal also comes just two weeks after H-P won an intense bidding war
over data-storage provider 3Par Inc. (PAR) against arch-rival Dell
Inc. (DELL).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was up 1.5% to 2,276 while the
Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 1.6%.
Chip stocks were particularly strong, with the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) up 3.3%. Micron Technology Inc. (MU) and
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) led the way with gains of more
than 8%. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) shares jumped more than 5% in recent
trade, and SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) shares were up 5%.
Sector leader Intel (INTC) was up nearly 3% ahead of the kickoff
of its annual Intel Developer's Forum in San Francisco.
Other big tech movers included Xerox Corp. (XRX), Apple (AAPL),
IBM (IBM), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Google (GOOG), Amazon.com (AMZN)
and Microsoft (MSFT) -- all of which were up more than 1%.