Apple, Micron, Dell lead mixed day for tech stocks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks ended up putting in a mixed performance Wednesday, with Apple Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Dell Inc. among the sector�s few advancers.

Apple AAPL �shares flexed their muscles, rising $21.48, or almost 4%, to $589.58. Before the market opened, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty boosted her price target on Apple�s stock to $720 a share from $515, and Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley raised his to $710 from $665.

/quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL 581.52, -4.04, -0.69%

The impetus for the moves is anticipated high demand for the next version of the iPad, which Apple reiterated would go on sale online and at its retail stores on March 16. Earlier this week, Apple said it had sold out of new iPads it had set aside for pre-orders.

Micron MU �shares pulled back from their high point, but still closed with a gain of 9 cents at $8.58. Bernstein Research analyst Mark Newman raised his rating on the memory-chip maker to outperform from market perform. Newman based his rating on factors such as Micron�s ability to potentially bene! fit from consolidation in the DRAM chip market. Micron is scheduled to report its quarterly results on March 22. Read more about Micron in the Ratings Game.

Dell Inc. DELL �shares rose by 19 cents to $17.42 a day after the company said it would acquire privately held network-security technology company SonicWall Inc., in a deal reportedly worth $1.2 billion.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP managed to crawl back from some late losses to close with a gain of less than 1 point at 3,041. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �both closed in the red.

Click to Play

How to use Pinterest legally

Pinterest is getting heat for copyright infringement due to how easily users grab images, but there's a way to use it legally. Joanna Chung reports.

Intel Corp. INTC �gave up gains and closed with a loss of 3 cents a share at $27.35. Alex Gauna of JMP Securities raised his target on the stock to $33 from $30, saying there are signs of strengthening demand for chips, especially in the notebook and server markets.

Losses also came from Oracle Corp. ORCL , Hewlett-! Packard Co. HPQ , Netflix Inc. NFLX , Yahoo Inc. YHOO �and EMC Corp. EMC

Related Articles:

Sharing Your Investing Experience & Gaining a Newfound Power

At Lipper Awards, PIMCO Wins Best Large Equity Fund; Nuveen Best Overall Fund Family

Tags: 2014 Silver Stocks ,BDX ,CFN ,Good Stocks 2014 ,Good Stocks To Watch 2014 ,Good Stocks To Watch In 2014 ,HOLX ,NYSE ,SI ,Top Dividend Stocks 2012

No comments:

Post a Comment