NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Technology stocks finished mostly higher Thursday as investors held out high hopes for good news from Intel Corp., which plans to give a mid-quarter update after the closing bell.
Semiconductor stocks helped boost the tech-focused Nasdaq ahead of Intel's report. The index rose 21.76 points, or 1.1 percent, to 2,055.12 while the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index advanced 8.15 points, or 1.6 percent, to close at 508.70.
After the closing, the world's largest computer chip maker narrowed the range of its quarterly revenue estimate toward the bottom end, saying its core microprocessor business was performing at the lower end of historical seasonal patterns.
Intel said it now expects first-quarter revenue to fall within a range of $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion from its earlier range of $7.9 billion to $8.5 billion. Gross profit margin, a measure of the percentage of sales remaining after production costs, is expected to be about the same as its earlier target of around 60 percent.
Wall Street estimated Intel would report revenue of $8.27 billion, according earnings tracker Reuters Research.
Intel (INTC: up $0.61 to $29.65, Research, Estimates) stock rose 2 percent ahead of its mid-quarter report, while other big-name chipmakers, including National Semiconductor (NSM: up $0.71 to $40.35, Research, Estimates), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM: up $0.27 to $11.27, Research, Estimates) and AMD (AMD: up $0.69 to $15.39, Research, Estimates), all fared higher.
In other tech-related news, Web search provider Ask Jeeves (ASKJ: up $8.30 to $29.01, Research, Estimates) ranked as a big winner, surging $8.30, or 40 percent, to $29.01. The company boosted its 2004 forecast and said it would buy Interactive Search Holdings for about $343 million to bolster its presence in the fast-growing Internet search-engine market.
Ask Jeeves said its plan to acquire the owner of search Web sites iWon, Excite and My Search would double Ask Jeeves' market share to 7 percent in the increasingly cut-throat industry, and would also boost its profits.
PalmOne (PLMO: up $1.40 to $12.70, Research, Estimates) shares also rose after brokerage firm JP Morgan raised its rating on the company to "overweight" from "neutral."
Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates) said Thursday that founder Michael Dell would relinquish his role as chief executive but remain chairman, making the computer seller the latest to split the two top roles as companies become more diligent about reform.
Dell named Kevin Rollins, its president and chief operating officer, as the next CEO, effective July 16. Dell, which ranks second to Hewlett-Packard Co. in the personal computer market, said Rollins would remain president and would also be nominated for election to the Dell board.
The announcement failed to boost Dell's stock price Thursday. It closed unchanged at $33.13.
Among other tech heavyweights, Microsoft (MSFT: unchanged at $26.37, Research, Estimates) also finished flat at $26.37 while Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates) rose 49 cents to $23.19.
Sun Microsystems (SUNW: down $0.04 to $5.16, Research, Estimates) and Oracle (ORCL: down $0.01 to $13.00, Research, Estimates) both traded lower. And on the NYSE, International Business Machines (IBM: down $0.45 to $96.39, Research, Estimates) fell slightly to $96.39.
-- from staff and wire reports
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