By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc.'s shares kept the tech
sector in the green on Monday as Barclays raised its price target
for the stock, saying the iPhone maker was poised to "retake
control of the narrative."
Apple (AAPL) rose 2% to $459.68. Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes
raised his price target by 13% to $525 from $465.
"We believe that Apple's shares are back on the right track --
at least for the time being -- and could continue to rally above
$500, perhaps in short order," he wrote.
"We believe Apple is about to change the narrative and get
investors, analysts, customers and the media finally talking about
new products again -- starting with a software/services/Mac event
on June 10th and a likely iPhone/iPad event in September," he
said.
Apple shares took a hit after the company posted quarterly
results which raised worries about declining profit margins.
Shares of Google Inc. (GOOG) rose 1.4% to $857.50.
Intel (INTC) also traded up a fraction to $24.01. RBC Capital
analyst Doug Freedman upgraded the stock to outperform from sector
perform citing the chip giant's potential in mobile and the
"all-time low sentiment in PCs."
"Our checks suggest mobile is garnering plenty of interest:
Traction in mobile is upcoming, as the magnitude of design wins may
be surprising to investors," he wrote. Freedman also cited the
potential impact of the appointment of Intel's new chief executive
officer Brian Krzanich.
"The impact of change to Intel's vision with the appointment of
Brian Krzanich should not be underestimated," Freedman added.
"'Steady as she goes' is the consensus view.'"
Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) also had its own CEO news as the
company named Vincent Roche as its permanent chief executive.
Shares of Analog Devices were up 1.7%.
Meanwhile, shares of BMC Software (BMC) traded mostly flat at
$45.40 after the company announced a $6.9 billion buyout deal with
a group of private equity firms.
Shares of Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shed 2% to $209.27.
Social-networking stocks were also struggling. Shares of
Facebook (FB) slipped 1.6% at $27.88. Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) was off a
fraction, while Groupon Inc. (GRPN) gave up 3% and Yelp Inc. (YELP)
shed a fraction.
LinkedIn (LNKD) was up 1.5%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was up a fraction at 3,389.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) were each up a fraction.
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