By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Technology stocks took another hit
Thursday morning following a harsh selloff in the previous session,
as large-cap players like Facebook, Oracle and Intel came under
selling pressure.
Apple (AAPL) was down 1% at $444.31 as hedge-fund giant David
Einhorn kicked off his conference call on the company. Einhorn is
waging a campaign to press the company to consider issuing a
special preferred stock grant.
In an interview with AllThingsD, Einhorn said his proposal
offers a "win-win" for both Apple and its shareholders. "We have a
solution that allows shareholders to see that value and Apple to
keep that cash," he added.
Apple's retreat set the tone for a downbeat trading session,
which saw the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) give up 1.4% to stand
at 3,121. The Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) gave up 1.6%,
while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 2.4%.
The tech sector retreat followed Wednesday's broader market
selloff sparked by investor concern over the Federal Open Market
Committee's January meeting minutes that revealed differences over
monetary policy.
Among large-cap tech names, Oracle (ORCL), SAP (SAP), Intel
(INTC), Cisco (CSCO) and Microsoft (MSFT) were all trading down
more than 1%. Facebook (FB) was off more than 4% to $27.27.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rebounded, and were up a
fraction to $16.81 ahead of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's
fiscal first-quarter report.
But shares of VeriFone (PAY) were in full retreat mode,
plummeting 42% to $18.33 after the company drastically cut its
estimates for its fiscal first quarter.
On the upside, shares of Google Inc. (GOOG) were up a fraction
at $792.56. The Internet powerhouse's stock hit an all-high
recently, rising above $800 for the first time in its history.
And the stock will probably go higher, Bernstein Research
analyst Carlos Kirjner argues in a note raising the price target to
$1,000. "We believe mass adoption of smartphones, tablets and the
mobile Web is a large value creation opportunity for Google,"
Kirjner wrote.
Groupon (GRPN) traded up 2% on a Piper Jaffray upgrade. Shares
of Home Away (AWAY) also rallied more than 10% after the online
home vacation and rental marketplace company posted upbeat
results.
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