NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Technology stocks ended another tumultuous session on a downslide Friday, erasing much of the week's earlier gains.
Investors, heading into a three-day weekend, went on a selling spree, sending most of the high-flying large-cap tech stocks broadly lower.
Friday's sell-off came in spite of spate of strong earnings reports and a day after the tech-studded Nasdaq composite index broke a new high.
The Nasdaq ended Friday's session down 137.18 at 4,411.74, a 3 percent decline on the day, in line with the broader market indexes. For the week, the Nasdaq edged up 3.7 percent from last Friday's close at 4,395.45.
Brocade soars on earnings, stock split
But it wasn't all downside in tech land Friday. Shares of Brocade Communications (BRCD: Research, Estimates) surged up 32-1/4 to 275-7/8, a 13.2 percent gain on the day.
Brocade, which makes products that provide high-speed connections between computer storage systems, posted a fiscal first-quarter profit that was ahead of Wall Street's expectations on Thursday and announced plans for a 2-for-1 stock split payable March 14 to shareholders of record on Feb. 28.
During the quarter, Brocade said its sales rose 434 percent from the year-ago period to $42.7 million. Brocade's stock has risen more than 2,000 percent since its initial public offering last May.
And in an interview on CNNfn's Before Hours program Friday, Brocade chief executive Greg Reyes said the company is in a good position to continue to thrive in what he sees as a blossoming market. [221K WAV or 221K AIFF]
Also boosting Brocade on Friday were Bear Stearns analyst Shaw Wu, who raised his price target on Brocade to $350, and Morgan Stanley analyst Gillian Munson, who rewarded the company with an upgrade to "strong buy" from "outperform."
Meanwhile, computer networking-equipment giant Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates) slid 4-11/16, or 3.6 percent, to 125-13/16. Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) ended the session down 1 at 52-1/2, a 1.9 percent decline on the day. Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates) ticked down 3-15/16, or 3.2 percent, to 119-1/2.
PC makers ended Friday's session mostly lower.
Shares of Compaq (CPQ: Research, Estimates) fell 1-1/32, or 3.9 percent to 25-1/4. Dell (DELL: Research, Estimates) slid 5/8 to 40-1/16, a 1.5 percent decline on the day. Gateway (GTW: Research, Estimates) edged down 3/16 to 56-1/2. IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates) shares slipped 4-1/8 to 112-5/8, a 3.5 percent decline on the day.
Bucking Friday's downturn among PC makers was Hewlett-Packard, which rose 1 to end the session at 129. Meanwhile, H-P spin-off Agilent Technologies (A: Research, Estimates), which posted much stronger than expected earnings after the closing bell Thursday, fell 3-1/4, or 3.4 percent, to 93-3/4. Agilent makes test and measurement equipment used primarily by electronics, communications and health-sciences companies.
The Goldman Sachs computer hardware index slipped 10.12, or 1.9 percent, to 536.04.
Chip makers down in session, up on week
Semiconductor companies ended Friday's session sharply lower, but the segment posted strong gains for the whole week. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index, or Soxx, ended the day down 42.86 at 935.94, a 4.4 percent slide.
The Soxx, which is made up of semiconductor companies as well as companies that supply the equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing, finished the week 2.6 percent higher from last Friday's closing level of 912.19.
Escaping Friday's sell-off was Sipex (SIPX: Research, Estimates). Shares of the analog chipmaker added more than 20 percent, ticking up 4-3/4 to 27-1/2. The company on Thursday reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street's expectations by a penny per share. Even so, Lehman Brothers raised its rating on the stock to "buy" from "outperform," expecting sequential growth of 18 percent in the first quarter and revenue of $117 million for the full year.
Chip makers on the downside Friday included Vitesse (VTSS: Research, Estimates), off 4-7/8, or 7 percent, at 64-3/8; Conexant (CNXT: Research, Estimates), which slipped 10-15/16, ending the session 8.9 percent lower at 111-7/8; Texas Instruments (TXN: Research, Estimates), which lost 5.7 percent on the day, ticking down 8-1/8 to 134-7/8; and Lattice (LSCC: Research, Estimates), which slid 5/16, or 6.8 percent, to 58-1/8.
Microsoft, Novell slide
Shares of software giant Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) were the most actively traded on Nasdaq Friday, ticking down 4-9/16 to 95-1/16, a 4.6 percent decline on the day after the company released its long-awaited Windows 2000 operating system.
Market observers said they expect it take some time for Windows 2000 to have a real impact on Microsoft's bottom line.
In an interview on CNNfn's Before Hours program Friday, Ron Hill of Brown Brothers Harriman said he expects Windows 2000 to get off to a slow start but ultimately prove to be a boon to Microsoft's business. [228K WAV or 228K AIFF]
Lehman Bothers reiterated its "buy" rating and price target of $130 on Microsoft Friday, noting that the material impact of the Windows 2000 rollout, which the company described as Microsoft's "first serious competitive offering in the UNIX-dominated enterprise market," should begin in the second half of the year.
Elsewhere in the software segment Friday, Novell (NOVL: Research, Estimates), a leading supplier of network and Internet directory software, tumbled 8-15/16 to 34-1/8, a 20.75 percent decline on the day. Friday's decline came after the company reported a fiscal first-quarter profit that was in line with analysts' expectations, but said that its revenue in January came in lower than expected.
Red Hat (RHAT: Research, Estimates), a leading distributor of the Linux computer operating system, fell 3-11/16, or 4.9 percent, to 71-1/2. Meanwhile, shares of VA Linux (LNUX: Research, Estimates) ticked down 2-1/2 to 115-1/2, a 2.1 percent decline on the day.
Dot.coms in the dumps
There were few bright spots among Internet stocks Friday. The Dow Jones composite Internet index slid 9.04, or 2.1 percent, to 414.79.
Leading Fridays' decline were some business-to-business Web sites, which are increasingly being touted as the new dot.com stars.
Shares of Razorfish (RAZF: Research, Estimates) fell 4-1/8, or 10.3 percent, to 35-7/8. FreeMarkets (FMKT: Research, Estimates) sliding 17-1/6 to 176-5/8, an 8.8 percent decline on the day. Commerce One (CMRC: Research, Estimates) slipped 10-1/4, or 5.4 percent, to 179. SciQuest (SQST: Research, Estimates) shares dipped 6-7/8, or 8.6 percent, to 73. pcOrder.com (PCOR: Research, Estimates) fell 2-1/16 to 29-7/16, a 6.6 percent decline on the day.
One B2B Web outfit that closed higher Friday was Ariba (ARBA: Research, Estimates), which ticked up 2-13/16 to 229, a 1.2 percent rise on the day.
Among consumer Web companies Friday: Online retailing giant Amazon.com (AMZN: Research, Estimates) fell 4-1/4, or 6.2 percent, to 64-3/4. Internet service provider Prodigy (PRGY: Research, Estimates) fell more than 9 percent, ending the session 2-3/16 lower at 21-1/4. Web portal Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates) slid 7-1/16, or 4.3 percent, to 156-1/8. Online auctioneer eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) fell 8 to 137-1/4, a 5.5 percent decline on the day.
Escaping Friday's drubbing were CNET, which advanced 4-1/8 to 66-15/16, a 6.6 percent rise on the day; Inktomi (INKT: Research, Estimates), which added 1-7/16, or 1.2 percent, to 122-9/16; and online advertising outfit DoubleClick (DCLK: Research, Estimates), which ticked up 2-5/32, or 2.4 percent, to 92-29/32. 
--from staff and wire reports
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