By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks saw modest gains by
early Wednesday afternoon, as Dell Inc. got a lift after another
big shareholder announced plans to oppose a planned privatization
deal led by its founder and CEO.
The gains in the sector were offset by losses at Apple, Facebook
and Netflix. The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was up a fraction to
3,194, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 0.3%
while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) picked up 0.2% by
the early afternoon.
Dell (DELL) shares rose 0.5% to $13.77 after T. Rowe Price
announced that it will oppose the buyout deal led by Michael Dell
and Silver Lake for $13.65 per share.
"We believe the proposed buyout does not reflect the value of
Dell and we do not intend to support the offer as put forward,"
wrote Brian Rogers, T. Rowe Price's chairman, in a statement.
Facebook (FB) shares shed more than 2.3% to $27.62 after
Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner cut his rating on the
stock to market perform, or neutral, from outperform. Kirjner also
took down his price target on Facebook's stock to $27 a share from
$33.
In a research note, Kirjner said that mobile inventory and
exchange issues were at the heart of his rating downgrade.
Apple (AAPL) shares gave up 1.5% to trade at $472.56 after Chief
Executive Tim Cook addressed a Goldman Sachs technology conference
in San Francisco Tuesday. Also speaking at the conference are Yahoo
Inc. (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer and eBay Inc. (EBAY) Chief Executive
John Donahoe.
Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) shares gave up almost 1.4% to fall to
$66.27. J.P. Morgan analyst Rod Hall cut his rating on the
communications technology company to neutral from overweight over
the chances that smartphone adoption rates will begin to slow down
by 2014.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares fell 0.7% to $176.50 after the
company said it signed a deal with DreamWorks Animation (DWA) to
create its first original series for children. The show, "Turbo
F.A.S.T." will debut in December and is based on the DreamWorks
movie "Turbo," which premieres in theaters this summer.
Netflix's newest content deal came one day after it lost out to
cable TV network Starz (STRZA) for the exclusive right to movies
from Sony Pictures (SNE).
AOL Inc.(AOL) posted one of the tech sector's bigger gains of
the day, rising more than 4% to $37.78 and adding to Monday's
gains, which came after RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney
raised his rating on the online media company's stock to outperform
from sector perform.
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