By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Salesforce.com Inc. set the pace
for tech stocks Friday, as the on-demand software company's shares
rose more than 18% to an all-time high.
However, concerns about China's latest move to curb inflation
managed to cast a shadow over the broader market throughout the
day.
Salesforce (CRM) rose almost $21 a share to close at $136.74 in
the wake of its late-Thursday earnings report. Salesforce reported
a third-quarter profit of $21.1 million, or 15 cents a share,
compared with earnings of $20.7 million, or 16 cents a share, in
the same period a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter climbed 30% to $429 million, and
excluding one-time items, Salesforce would have earned 32 cents a
share in the latest period. By that measure, Salesforce topped the
average estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet Research, who
forecast the company to earn 31 cents a share on almost $410
million in revenue.
Dell Inc. (DELL) shares rose 23 cents to close at $13.90 after
the company late Thursday reported a third-quarter profit that more
than doubled from the year-ago period. Dell said it earned $822
million, or 42 cents a share, on $15.4 billion in sales, up from
the year-earlier $337 million, or 17 cents a share, on revenue of
$12.9 billion.
Other gains came from Seagate Technology (STX), Qualcomm Inc.
(QCOM), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and
online-video provider Netflix Inc. (NFLX).
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) shares rose 80 cents, or almost 2%, to
close at $42.49 ahead of the company's quarterly results on
Monday.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) managed to come back from
early losses to rise 3.7 points at 2,518. It closed flat for the
week.