By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks showed some signs of
coming to life in afternoon trading Wednesday, as the sector
pressed for gains ahead of the release of Cisco Systems Inc.'s
financial results.
Set to report results for the first quarter after the close,
Cisco (CSCO) shares rose 5 cents to trade at $24.40.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research estimate Cisco will earn
40 cents a share on $10.75 billion in sales, on average. These
would be higher than the 36 cents a share earned on revenue of $9
billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
With Cisco turning its back on losses, other tech stocks
followed suit. Gains came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard
Co. (HPQ), Broadcom Corp. (BRCM), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Dell
Inc. (DELL), among others.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 8 points to 2,570,
although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) remained in the
red.
Also higher, shares of Limelight Networks Inc. (LLNW) rose 30
cents to $8.04, gaining further a day after reports came out saying
the Web-content delivery company may be in line to get more
business from Netflix Inc. (NFLX).
Google Inc. (GOOG) shares fell $4.03 to $620.79. The Internet
kingpin came in for attention over its plan to give 10% raises to
all of its 23,000 employees.
Trading lower, shares of video-technology company Sonic
Solutions Inc. (SNIC) fell by $1.15, or more than 9%, to $10.94.
Late Tuesday, the company issued a weaker-than-expected revenue
forecast for its second quarter ended Sept. 30.
Other losses came from Western Digital Corp. (WDC), down $1.32,
or nearly 4%, at $33.27, as well as Lam Research Corp. (LRCX), down
84 cents, or 2%, to $46.14 and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD),
down 18 cents, or 2.3%, to $7.73.