|
Techs up, led by Qualcomm
|
 |
December 29, 1999: 5:08 p.m. ET
Mobile-phone maker jumps even more, while Egghead.com breaks out a bit
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Qualcomm beamed up further thanks to a dazzling analyst report, while Egghead.com was sizzling amid solid online traffic, highlighting a solid day for tech issues Wednesday.
Wireless wonder Qualcomm (QCOM), already the top percentage gainer in the S&P 500 in 1999, rose 156 to 659, or about 31 percent, after PaineWebber analyst Walter Piecyk initiated coverage on the stock with a "buy" rating and a price target of $1,000.
Piecyk said Qualcomm is poised to rake in as much as $20 billion in royalties related to patents regarding its code division multiple access, or CDMA, technology that helps power cellular phones.
"We think Qualcomm will continue to dominate the market for CDMA phones,” Piecyk said. "The value in Qualcomm is that their technology is the technology of choice for the next decade.”
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed above the 4,000 mark for the first time, rising 69.36 points - or 1.75 percent - to 4,041.47.
The rally for tech stocks was broad-based, but Internet stocks, blue-chip technology issues and software makers led the charge. The CBOE Internet index rose nearly 6 percent, the CS First Boston Technology index added nearly 4 percent and several top Internet indexes rose 3 percent.
Among software titans Microsoft (MSFT) added 7/16 to 117-15/16, Oracle (ORCL) rose 3-7/8 to 110 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) rose 2-1/16 to 78.
Egghead.com breaks out a bit
Among impressive Internet gainers in the online world, Egghead.com (EGGS) broke out, rallying 4-5/16 to 15-7/8 after the online computer gear vendor announced that Internet traffic-monitoring firm Media Matrix said Egghead.com was among the Top 10 e-commerce sites for the week ending Dec. 19.
In a news release citing Media Matrix’s numbers, Egghead.com said it had an estimated 1.1 million unique visitors to the site, marking a rise of 42 percent from the previous three weeks.
"The stock has not been well covered of late,” said Steve Weinstein, an analyst with Pacific Securities, who has a "market perform” rating on Egghead.com shares. "That could have been a surprise to some people and could have given rise to the run up.”
Meanwhile, fellow Web retailer Value America (VUSA) plummeted more than 10 percent, down 1 to 35 after the company said it would restructure, cut almost 50 percent of its workforce and accept the resignation of its two co-founders.
Elsewhere in the Internet sector, DoubleClick (DCLK) rose 28-3/16 to 249-1/8 after Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette lifted the company’s price target to $300 from $190.
A dip for Tegal
Also making headlines in the tech sector, recent semiconductor darling Tegal (TGAL) erased some of its gains a day earlier and fell nearly 27 percent, down 2-13/16 to 7-5/8.
Analysts downplayed upbeat comments from a former fund manager Monday that helped drive the stock up 80 percent in that day’s session. Analyst Alex Woodward of Black & Co. downgraded Tegal stock twice in the past two days, to "hold" from "accumulate" from "buy." 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
