NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Technology stocks surged on Thursday as investors shifted their assets away from interest-rate-sensitive issues into Internet and computer hardware stocks, where there are very few signs of a slowdown in growth.
Dot.coms led the rally, followed closely by computer-equipment and semiconductor manufacturers, as investors snapped up some of the bargains left by Wednesday's sell-off and awaited quarterly earnings results from bellwether Dell Computer.
And that helped lead the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index to yet another record close, ending 122.39 higher at 4,485.63, a 2.8 percent rise on the day.
"Techs were hot and everything else was not on confusion about the future of interest rates," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward D. Jones in St. Louis. "When the interest-rate picture is cloudy, the focus turns to earnings. And earnings in the tech sector have been good."
Net stocks lead the advance
Internet stocks were at the head of the pack Thursday, sending the Dow Jones composite Internet index 13.26 higher to 428.03, a 3.2 percent gain on the day.
Among one of the biggest winners there was Internet domain-name registrar Network Solutions (NSOL: Research, Estimates), which soared more than 14 percent, ending 36-5/16 higher at 292-5/16. The company on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter profit that more than doubled from the same period a year ago on a 143-percent increase in revenue.
Shares of companies that provide Internet security products and services also continued their advance Thursday in the wake of a rash of hacking attacks on high-profile Web sites earlier in the week.
RSA Security (RSAS: Research, Estimates) rose 27/32 to 64-9/16, a 1.3 percent advance on the day. Secure Computing (SCUR: Research, Estimates) ticked up 11/16, or 4.6 percent, to 15-5/8. ISS Group (ISSX: Research, Estimates) shares advanced 10-13/16, or 13.2 percent, to 92-9/16, and Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP: Research, Estimates) added 32-7/32 to 180-7/32, a 21.8 percent rise on the day.
Internet incubator CMGI Group (CMGI: Research, Estimates) slipped 2-11/16 to 117-13/16 after the company announced it plans to buy online auctioneer uBid.com (UBID: Research, Estimates) for $40 million in stock. Meanwhile, uBid shares added 3-11/32, closing 12.5 percent higher at 30-1/32.
Other Internet gainers on Thursday included DoubleClick (DCLK: Research, Estimates), which added 15-9/16 to 118-1/2, a 15.1 percent advance; Web portal Lycos (LCOS: Research, Estimates), up 2-5/16, or 3.3 percent, at 72-7/8; Prodigy, which ticked up 1-9/16 to close 6.5 percent higher at 25-9/16; and America Online (AOL: Research, Estimates), which added ¾ to 58-1/2, a 1.3 percent rise on the day.
Dot.coms on a downtick Thursday included Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates), which slid 4-1/16, or 5 percent, to 76-3/6; online auctioneer eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates), down 1-5/8 at 162-3/8; theglobe.com (TGLO: Research, Estimates), which fell 5/16 to 7-1/16; and eToys (ETYS: Research, Estimates), which fell 9/16, or 3.6 percent, to 15-3/16.
Equipment makers on the ups
Shares of Dell, which were some of the biggest Nasdaq movers Thursday, ticked up 3-7/32 to 38-25/32, a 9 percent gain on the day after falling 4 percent lower on Wednesday.
After Thursday's closing bell, Dell (DELL: Research, Estimates) reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 16 cents per share, slightly ahead of analysts' recently lowered expectations.
Other computer makers followed Dell up, taking back most of Wednesday's losses. The Goldman Sachs computer hardware index advanced 14.34, or 2.7 percent, to 543.81.
Gateway (GTW: Research, Estimates) added 1-3/8 to 58-1/4, a 2.4 percent rise. Compaq (CPQ: Research, Estimates) shares edged down 1/16 to 26-5/16. Hewlett-Packard (HWP: Research, Estimates) advanced 2 to 126, a 1.6 percent gain. IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) gained 1-3/4, closing 1.5 percent higher at 119-1/8. And, Apple Computer (AAPL: Research, Estimates) added 7/8 to 113-1/2.
Computer networking equipment giant Cisco Systems continued its run, picking up 7-1/8 to 135-5/16, a 5.5 percent gain on the day. On Tuesday, the company reported quarterly earnings results, which beat analysts' forecasts, on revenue that rose a whopping 53 percent.
Adding more fuel to the fire behind Cisco's stock were bullish comments from Wall Street analysts as well as an optimistic outlook for the company's future growth from Cisco executives.
In an interview on CNNfn's Moneyline News Hour Wednesday, John Chambers, Cisco's president and chief executive, said he expects the company to continue to grow at or above the industry's growth rate, which he said is between 30 percent and 50 percent.
"We obviously are getting to be one of the largest players in the industry, so it's hard to grow faster than that number," Chambers said "But we're very, very pleased with the last quarter results of 53 percent year-over-year. That's on the upside, so I wouldn't get too optimistic when it goes above 50 percent, just like we encouraged people two years ago, when it went below 30 percent growth for us, not to get too pessimistic."
"The industry growth is there, and it's there probably for the next decade," Chambers added. "So how well we execute will determine what role we play."
Cisco competitor Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) edged up 1/16 to 53-1/8, while Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates) added 5/8 to 122-3/8.
Chips retake Wednesday's losses
Following computer-equipment makers higher Thursday were semiconductor suppliers. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index added 39.57, or 4.4 percent, to 943.09.
Shares of Cirrus Logic (CRUS: Research, Estimates) posted some of the sharpest gains, adding 2-1/16, or 13.5 percent, to 17-3/8. Shares of Vitesse (VTSS: Research, Estimates) ended more than 28 percent higher, ticking up 15-15/16 to 71-3/4 in heavy-volume trade. Communications-chip maker Anadigics (ANAD: Research, Estimates) rose 13-1/8, or 11.17 percent, ending the session at 125-1/8. Microprocessor giant Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) advanced 3 to 107-5/8, a 2.9 percent rise on the day. Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates) edged up 7/16 to 42-1/2.
Heading lower were: Burr Brown (BBRC: Research, Estimates), which slipped 1-1/8 to 43-3/4; Micron (MU: Research, Estimates), down 7/8 at 72-3/8; and Actel (ACTL: Research, Estimates), which slipped 3/8 to 28-5/8. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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