By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks saw mild gains Friday
morning, though Microsoft slipped following mixed Wall Street
reactions to its wide reorganization the day before, and Dell
shares traded down on the lastest plan from billionaire activist
Carl Icahn.
Icahn, who along with Southeastern Asset Management is opposing
an effort led by Dell (DELL) Chief Executive to take the PC company
private, on Friday proposed an offer that would value Dell at
between $15 and $18 a share. Michael Dell's current offer to take
Dell private values the company at $13.65 a share.
Investors didn't immediately rally behind Icahn's offer, as
Dell's shares slipped by 0.2% to $13.31.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) shares pared back by almost 1%, to
$35.40, one day after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer unveiled a
major realignment of the software giant's business operations.
"While we understand that the company's changes have the
potential to improve efficiencies, we believe Microsoft is in need
of innovation, not a more streamlined operating structure," wrote
David Hilal of FBR Capital, who maintained a market perform rating
on the stock. "Furthermore, we believe a company of Microsoft's
size, as well as where it sits in the sluggish PC environment,
faces considerable execution risk and a significant lag time before
any material impact."
Other declines came from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Oracle Corp.
(ORCL) and Google Inc. (GOOG).
But enough advancers emerged to help boost the Nasdaq Composite
Index (RIXF) by 0.1% to 3,583. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
(SOX) was up 0.6%.
Advancers included Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), which continued to
reached a new high of $304.75 a share after climbing above $300 for
the first time on Thursday.
Yelp Inc. (YELP) shares rose more than 5%, to $39.49. Before the
market opened, Needham & Co. analyst Kerry Rice initiated
coverage of the online review and recommendation company with a buy
rating and $45 a share price target.
In a research note, Rice said he took his position on Yelp
because the company "has successfully established itself as a key
online marketing and lead generation platform for
small-and-medium-sized businesses in North America and is taking
strides in becoming a necessary advertising medium for local
businesses worldwide."
Online medical-information company WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD) saw
its shares surge more than 30%, to $35.09 after it raised its
full-year forecast following better-than-expected second-quarter
results.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares rose more than 4%, to $254.28
following reports that the company was in talks about producing
another season of the series "Arrested Development."
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