Facebook rises, Amazon BlackBerry retreat
Amazon unveils Kindle Fire tablets; Facebook draws more bullish views
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Tech stocks ended up putting in mixed market performance Wednesday as Facebook picked up gains, Amazon.com Inc. retreated and BlackBerry Inc. shares slumped on fresh doubts about the smartphone maker’s plan to go private.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ:COMP) shed 7 points to close at 3,761, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (NPI:SOX) and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (NAR:MSH) each edged into positive territory.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) shares rose 2%, to $49.46. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Graham initiated his coverage of Facebook with a buy rating and $60-a-share price target. It was the latest in a line of bullish notes from brokers on the social network, which has surged 25% over the last month and is nearing the $50 mark.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) gave up its modest gains and shed $1.48 to close at $312.65 following the announcement of its new Kindle Fire HDX tablets. The stock was last up 0.3% to $315.
Late Tuesday, Amazon introduced the Kindle Fire HDX, which adds a “Mayday” button to its features that will connect a person with a live tech support from Amazon. The newest version of the Kindle will come with screens measuring 7-inches or 8.9-inches, and cost between $229 and $479. Amazon shares rose $1 to $315.22 in early trading Wednesday.
BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) shares fell by more than 6% to $8.01 — trading at a sharp discount to the $9-per-share price offered in a pending buyout deal from Fairfax Financial. Bernstein Research analyst Pierre Ferragu wrote in a note to clients Wednesday that he doubts the offer will go through, given that Fairfax has not yet lined up consortium partners or the necessary financing.
“As Fairfax, BlackBerry’s largest shareholder, is not willing to commit any more equity, we think it will be unlikely that enough other investors will be joining the bid that sounds like a last chance rescue attempt for Fairfax’s stake,” he wrote, adding that financial sponsors may also be reluctant to back the deal.
Gains also came from Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) , Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)and Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL)
Oracle rose 23 cents a share to close at $33.87 as the company continued with its annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison had been scheduled to address the conference on Tuesday, but skipped his planned keynote to watch his Oracle Team USA in the America’s Cup yacht races held in the San Francisco Bay.
Declines came from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) , off by 1.6% at $481.53, as well as from IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM) , eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ
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