TECH STOCKS: Amazon, Microsoft Surge; Leading Tech
Post# of 94145
Posted On: 11/01/2013 9:05:23 AM
TECH STOCKS: Amazon, Microsoft Surge; Leading Tech Gains
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Big early gains from Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com helped the tech sector flex some muscles Friday morning and push the Nasdaq Composite Index to levels not seen in more than a decade.
Also getting attention was Twitter Inc. (TWTR), which late Thursday set a price range of $17 to $20 a share for its IPO, which reportedly could take place in early November.
The action helped push the Nasdaq (RIXF) up as much as 30 points, to 3,961 in early trades -- its highest level since August 2000. The Index was last up 0.4% to 3,943, while the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) rose by 0.3%.
Investors gave high marks to Microsoft (MSFT), sending its shares up more than 6% to $35.85, a day after the tech giant reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Microsoft said it earned $5.24 billion, or 62 cents a share, on revenue of $18.53 billion. During the year-ago period, Microsoft earned $4.7 billion, or 53 cents a share, on $16 billion in sales.
Microsoft said its results were boosted by sales of cloud services and its business applications. Rick Sherlund, of Nomura Equity Research, also cited Microsoft's $400 million in revenue from Surface tablet sales an a upbeat sign for the company, especially at a time when the PC market is declining.
"Any less of a drag from the PC business and related consumer shift to tablets and notebooks is good news," Sherlund said.
Amazon (AMZN) surged by almost 10%, to $364.61 a share after the Internet-retailing leader cut its third-quarter loss from a year ago and reported better-than-expected sales figures.
Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler used Amazon's results as the basis for upgrading his rating on the company's stock to strong by from market perform. Kessler cited Amazon's revenue momentum and continuing growth in the U.S. among the reasons for his stock upgrade.
Zynga (ZNGA) climbed more than 12% to $3.99 in the wake of the social-gaming company posting better sales than analysts had forecast, and cutting its loss from a year ago. It was the first full quarter of results for Zynga since former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick became the company's chief executive.
Other gains came from Pandora Media Inc. (P), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX).
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By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Big early gains from Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com helped the tech sector flex some muscles Friday morning and push the Nasdaq Composite Index to levels not seen in more than a decade.
Also getting attention was Twitter Inc. (TWTR), which late Thursday set a price range of $17 to $20 a share for its IPO, which reportedly could take place in early November.
The action helped push the Nasdaq (RIXF) up as much as 30 points, to 3,961 in early trades -- its highest level since August 2000. The Index was last up 0.4% to 3,943, while the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) rose by 0.3%.
Investors gave high marks to Microsoft (MSFT), sending its shares up more than 6% to $35.85, a day after the tech giant reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Microsoft said it earned $5.24 billion, or 62 cents a share, on revenue of $18.53 billion. During the year-ago period, Microsoft earned $4.7 billion, or 53 cents a share, on $16 billion in sales.
Microsoft said its results were boosted by sales of cloud services and its business applications. Rick Sherlund, of Nomura Equity Research, also cited Microsoft's $400 million in revenue from Surface tablet sales an a upbeat sign for the company, especially at a time when the PC market is declining.
"Any less of a drag from the PC business and related consumer shift to tablets and notebooks is good news," Sherlund said.
Amazon (AMZN) surged by almost 10%, to $364.61 a share after the Internet-retailing leader cut its third-quarter loss from a year ago and reported better-than-expected sales figures.
Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler used Amazon's results as the basis for upgrading his rating on the company's stock to strong by from market perform. Kessler cited Amazon's revenue momentum and continuing growth in the U.S. among the reasons for his stock upgrade.
Zynga (ZNGA) climbed more than 12% to $3.99 in the wake of the social-gaming company posting better sales than analysts had forecast, and cutting its loss from a year ago. It was the first full quarter of results for Zynga since former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick became the company's chief executive.
Other gains came from Pandora Media Inc. (P), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX).
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
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