By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Netflix Inc. and eBay Inc. put in
strong performances Thursday, but most of the rest of the tech
sector had a mixed performance and staggered to the close along
with the broad market.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) managed to crawl out of the
red to close with a gain of 2 points at 2,459. The Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) closed with a small loss.
Part of the day's sideways turn was blamed on the strength of
the U.S. dollar and growing concerns about the quality of recent
earnings reports.
But Netflix (NFLX) shares flexed their muscles, climbing $19.54,
or more than 12%, to $172.69. After the market closed Wednesday,
Netflix reported a third-quarter profit of $38 million, or 70 cents
a share, on $553.2 million in sales, up from earnings of $30.1
million, or 52 cents a share, on revenue of $423.1 million in the
year-ago period.
Netflix said its results were helped by an increase in new
subscribers, more of whom are using the company's online
video-streaming services for longer lengths of time.
EBay (EBAY) shares also performed well, climbing $1.54 a share,
or 6%, to $27.20. Late Wednesday, eBay said its third-quarter
earnings rose 23% from a year ago, mostly due to strength in its
PayPal business. For the quarter, eBay earned $432 million, or 33
cents a share, on $2.25 billion in sales.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) shares rose $6.30, or 4%, to $164.97
ahead of the online retailer's quarterly results, due after the
market close.
Small gains also came from Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Google Inc.
(GOOG), EMC Corp. (EMC) and Intel Corp. (STX)
Seagate Technology (STX) shares edged up by a penny to close at
$15.23. Late Wednesday, the hard-disk drive maker reported a 17%
drop in its fiscal first-quarter earnings, amid reports that the
company could soon be taken private.
But there were enough decliners to make their presence felt on
the sector.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell $1.01 a share to $309.52 a day after the
company unveiled new MacBook Air laptops and gave a preview of
Lion, the next upgrade to its Mac OS operating system.
Other losses came from Dell Inc. (DELL), Hewlett-Packard Co.
(HPQ), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and Texas Instruments Inc.
(TXN).