By Rex Crum
A strong earnings report and outlook from Intel Corp. led to
gains across the chip sector and a broader rally in tech stocks
Wednesday.
Shares of Intel (INTC) rose 70 cents, or 3%, to $23.47 after the
world's largest semiconductor said it earned $2.4 billion, or 43
cents a share, on $10.3 billion in sales for the first quarter. The
results reported late Tuesday, well above what Intel reported in
the same period a year ago, topped analysts' average forecasts
calling for a profit of 38 cents a share and revenue of $9.8
billion.
Despite the gains from Intel, some analysts who follow the
company raised questions about how much higher the Dow Jones
Industrial Average component's shares can climb.
With Intel in the lead, nearly every other major chip company
saw its shares rise Wednesday. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
added (SOX) more than 3.6%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) also climbed, up 28 points to
2,494, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) gained
1.7%.
Shares of Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), which
reports financial results on Thursday, rose nearly 4% to $9.91,
while Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) and
Micron Technology Inc. (MU) each rose at least 3%.
Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC) shares rallied $1.53, or more than
19%, to $9.40 after the chip-equipment company reported
second-quarter sales of $153 million; analysts had forecast sales
of $146.4 million. Kulicke & Soffa also disclosed a
third-quarter revenue outlook that topped analysts' estimates.
That helped push up other chip-equipment stocks. Applied
Materials (AMAT), KLA-Tencor (KLAC), Novellus Systems (NVLS) and
Teradyne (TER) were all up more than 2% in midday.
Also on the move, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares rose $2.91 to
$245.39.
The company said it would have to delay the international
rollout of the iPad due to better-than-expected demand in the U.S.
Apple said that it sold more than 500,000 iPads during the first
week of the device's release and that demand "will likely continue
to exceed our supply over the next several weeks."
The iPad would now go on sale in international markets at the
end of May, Apple said.
Among other tech stocks, Google Inc. (GOOG), which reports
quarterly results on Thursday, rose $2.55 to $589.50, and gains
also came from Dell Inc. (DELL), Seagate Technology (STX),
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE).