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Techs in late-day downtick
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January 27, 2000: 6:01 p.m. ET
Sector loses momentum as afternoon rally erases morning gains
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Tech stocks capped off Thursday on a downslide, erasing much of the day's earlier gains.
After trading sharply higher for most of the morning, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index took a dive during the latter half of the session, ending 30.35 points lower at 4039.56, a 0.75 percent decline on the day.
Among the most actively traded Nasdaq stocks on Thursday was PC maker Dell Computer (DELL), which warned after the bell the day earlier that it would fall well short of its fourth-quarter sales and profit targets.
Analysts on Thursday weighed in with mixed opinions on Dell. Some, such as Deutsche Banc downgraded the stock, while Merrill Lynch, Robertson Stephens and USB Piper Jaffray painted a more bullish outlook. [Click here for a look at the day's company upgrades.]
But in the end, the bears prevailed. Shares of Dell slid 2-13/16 to 37-9/16, a near 7 percent decline on the day. In all, more than 127 million Dell shares changed hands Thursday, making it the company's biggest trading day ever.
Dell blamed the shortfall on lower-than-expected corporate spending compounded by component shortages early in the quarter.
But in an interview on CNNfn's In the Money program Thursday, Dell's chief financial officer, Tom Meredith, said the company still will grow faster than its peers in the coming year, albeit at a slower rate than in the past. [213K WAV or 213K AIFF.]
Other computer makers dipped lower as well, with the exception of Dell rival Gateway (GTW), which last week reported earnings that were 2.4 percent lower that a year ago. Shares of Gateway advanced 1-7/8, or 3.2 percent, to 60-7/8.
Meanwhile, shares of Hewlett-Packard (HWP), which in the wake of Dell's warnings issued a statement saying it was on track to meet its first-quarter and full-year targets, ticked down 1/4 to 108-1/2. Compaq (CPQ) also declined, ending 5/8 lower at 28-1/4. IBM (IBM) slipped 3-1/4 to 113-1/2. And shares of Apple (AAPL) slid 3/16 to 110.
The Goldman Sachs computer hardware index ended the session down 13.46, or 2.6 percent, at 503.04.
Chipmakers sluggish, but some still shining
Chipmakers also slipped mostly lower Thursday. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index ended the session down 4.5 points, or 0.6 percent, at 778.65.
Even so, there were some semiconductor stars. Sandisk Corp. (SNDK), a leading supplier of flash-memory chips, and Conexant (CNXT), which makes chips for high-speed data communications, countered some of the downturn on the Nasdaq.
Conexant added 13-1/4, or 18 percent, to 87-9/16 on news that it would be added to the closely mirrored S&P 500 index, replacing Consolidated Natural Gas, which is being acquired by Dominion Resources (D), also an S&P 500 listing. The changes will take place after the market close on Friday.
Meanwhile, Sandisk surged more than 45 percent, ending 43-5/8 higher, after the company on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings that were sharply higher than Wall Street had expected, in addition to announcing plans for a 2-for-1 stock split payable on Feb. 22 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 8.
Other chip winners on Thursday included microprocessor giant Intel (INTC), which ticked up 1-5/8 to 98-1/8, and Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which edged up 1/16 to 36-15/16.
Thursday's chip losers included: Analog Devices (ADI), which slid 5-5/8, or 5.5 percent, to 96-1/16; communications chipmaker Broadcom (BRCM), which was off 5-3/16 at 281-3/8; LSI Logic (LSI), which ended 4-11/16 lower at 81-5/8; and Micrel (MCRL), which dipped 4-1/4 to 67.
Internet rally fades in late-day trading
After a strong morning rally, dot-coms retreated somewhat, ending the session mixed. The Dow Jones composite Internet finished 2.78 higher at 413.18, a 0.68 percent rise on the day.
Finishing higher, InfoSpace.com (INSP) jumped 19.6 percent, up 27-1/2 at 167-1/2 after the Web-portal-services provider reported fourth-quarter operating earnings of $5 million, or 9 cents per fully diluted share. First Call had forecasted a break-even quarter.
Other Internet gainers included Amazon.com (AMZN), which rose 2.3 percent, up 2-1/8 at 66-15/16, and PSINet (PSIX) climbing 3-1/4 to 90-1/4, a 3.7 percent rise on the day.
Other companies issuing earnings reports did not fare as well. eToys (ETYS) sank 20.6 percent, ending down 4-3/8 at 16-7/8, after disclosing that losses grew in its third quarter, while sales increased fivefold from the previous year. Priceline (PCLN) slipped 2-1/8 to 64-1/8, even after the company posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and forecast $1 billion in sales next year.
VerticalNet (VERT), a business-to-business Web portal that recently won the support of software titan Microsoft (MSFT), edged up 7-1/4 to 276-3/4. Also on the upside among business-to-business Internet outfits, shares of Freemarkets (FMKT) added 15-3/4 to 285.
Meanwhile, other B2B Web ventures ended mostly lower.
Razorfish (RAZF) slid 7-1/2 to 90-1/8. Internet Capital Group (ICGE) finished 6-3/16 lower at 130. And shares of Commerce One (CMRC) fell 3-13/16 to 181-3/16 
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