By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks were mostly lower
Monday, as the latest events in the saga involving the efforts to
take Dell Inc. private gained attention among investors.
Dell (DELL) shares gave up 4 cents to $13.41 after the PC
company asked activist investor Carl Icahn, and Southeastern Asset
Management Inc., to provide more information about Icahn's
alternative takeover proposal. Last Week, Icahn and Southeastern
offered up a proposal that would give Dell shareholders an option
to retain holding stock in Dell and take an additional $12 a share
in cash and stock.
Dell has said it isn't sure if Ichan's offer is an "actual
acquisition proposal" or an alternative in the event that the
current $24.4 billion deal to sell Dell to Silver Lake Partners and
company founder Michael Dell isn't approved.
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) edged up 2 cents a share to $21.13.
Before the market opened, FBR Capital Markets analyst Scott
Thompson raised his rating on the networking-equipment company to
market perform, or neutral, from underperform.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) shares shed 1.4%, to $25.47. Macquarie
Equities Research analyst Ben Schachter raised his target price on
Yahoo's stock to $30 a share from $27, based largely on how much
Yahoo could benefit from Alibaba potentially going public later
this year. Yahoo currently owns a 24% stake in Alibaba, one of the
largest Chinese Internet companies.
Among other leading tech stocks, losses came from
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO)
and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gave up almost 3 points to
slip to 3,433, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) and
the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) were both in the
red.
Gains came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), which rose 4.5% to $227.39,
as well as Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Advanced
Micro Devices Inc. (AMD).
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