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Chips, Nets power techs
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April 21, 1999: 5:52 p.m. ET
Tech players get back in step in short order, erasing Monday's sharp sell-off
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Investors continued to flock to technology stocks for a second day on Wednesday, shrugging off a big sell-off earlier this week.
Bouncing back from a big point drop Monday, its second-largest, the Nasdaq Composite index, which is full of technology issues, gained 79.44 points, or 3.3 percent, to 2,489.08.
One oddity was Microsoft (MSFT), off 1-1/8 to 82 after the software kingpin reported third-quarter earnings Tuesday topping analysts' targets by 3 cents per share. Microsoft did say the rest of the year looks bleaker, however, due in part to the so-called Y2K bug.
CS First Boston raised its earnings estimate for fiscal 2000 by a nickel to $1.60 per share on Microsoft, while Prudential Securities cut its rating to "hold" from "accumulate."
Meanwhile, American depositary receipts of German software maker SAP (SAP) shot up 6-3/8 to 31, after a surge in Frankfurt trading. The gains came after SAP announced better-than-expected earnings and aired bullish remarks about sales in coming quarters.
Microsoft rival Sun Microsystems (SUNW) climbed 5-1/8 to 59-1/2, after naming Chief Operating Officer Scott Zander to the additional post of president, assuming the title from Scott McNealy, who will remain chairman and CEO.
Among PC makers, Dow issue IBM (IBM) shed 2-1/8 to 171-7/8, After the bell, Big Blue said it earned $1.55 per share in the first quarter, 10 cents better than analysts had expected.
At around 5:20 p.m. ET, IBM shares were quoted at 187, according to electronic trading firm Instinet.
And Compaq (CPQ) which expressed optimism about coming quarters after the snap resignation of its chief executive, added 1/4 to 24-1/4.
In an exclusive interview with CNNfn Wednesday, former CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer blasted the board for his ouster.
Big bounce for the chip sector
A heap of better-than-expected earnings numbers put the wind in the sails of top chip-sector players.
One of the leaders of the pack was Texas Instruments (TXN) rising 8-3/4 to 108-3/4, a day after reporting better-than-expected profit in its latest quarter. CS First Boston opened its coverage with a "buy" rating.
Elsewhere, National Semiconductor (NSM) rallied 1-1/2 to 14-1/8; Intel (INTC) gained 1-7/8 to 58-7/16; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 13/16 to 16-13/16.
But taking a hit was memory-chip maker Micron Technology (MU), down 2-3/4 to 41-1/2.
BancBoston Robertson Stephens cut its rating on the company to long-term "attractive" from "strong buy" and slashed its earnings estimate to 24 cents from 75 cents in fiscal 1999.
And Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) exploded up 10-13/16, or 23 percent, to 58-1/2 after the maker of programmable-logic devices beat analysts' estimates by 2 cents. At least three investment banks raised their ratings.
'Nets back with a vengeance
The Internet sector got back in the swing Wednesday, led by a recent market laggard that is losing its monopoly as a registrar of 'Net domain names.
Network Solutions (NSOL) gained 32, or 53 percent, to 92, on volume of 11.6 million shares after nonprofit group delegated by the U.S. Commerce Department named five firms that will be allowed to register domain-names.
Those new registrars, including online giant America Online (AOL), will pay Network Solutions $9 for every address they register. Some 29 more registrars are set to be named later this year.
Shares of AOL rallied 14-1/16 to 142-3/4.. Web traffic researcher Media Matrix reported the online service nosed past portal Yahoo! (YHOO) in terms of unique visits to its sites in March.
Yahoo! rose 3-7/8 to 174-7/8.
Yahoo!'s top rival, Lycos (LCOS) soared 27-5/8 to 101-1/2 after several days of severe plunges.
And Go2Net (GNET) spiked 29-3/8 to 177-1/2 ahead of announcing after-the-bell a two-for-one stock split, and posting a profit of 7 cents per share in its fiscal fourth quarter.
Web search engine maker Inktomi (INKT) rose 13 to 128. Broker CIBC Oppenheimer opened coverage with a rating of "strong buy."
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