By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gains from LinkedIn Corp. and
Dell Inc. led what was an overall upbeat day for tech stocks on
Friday after the sector was bogged down earlier due to broad market
reaction to the latest payroll and jobs data.
LinkedIn (LNKD) shares ended the day up by almost 11%, at
$235.58, after the online professional-networking company reported
better-than-expected second quarter results late Thursday. LinkedIn
said its business performance was led by gains in new
memberships.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali raised his rating on
LinkedIn to buy, and lifted his price target on the company's stock
to $250 a share from $170.
In a research note, Squali said that while LinkedIn's shares had
risen 90% from the first of the year until before Thursday's
report, he supported raising his views on LinkedIn because it is
one of the "rare cases where a company keeps outperforming
expectations and where the long-term outlook keeps getting better
with every passing quarter."
Dell (DELL) climbed 5.6% to close at $13.68 a share after the
company agreed to a new buyout offer from Chief Executive Michael
Dell and Silver Lake. Under terms of the new deal, Michael Dell and
Silver Lake will pay $13.75 a share for Dell, pay a special
dividend of 13 cents a share by the time the deal closes, and
guarantee the company's third-quarter dividend payment of 8 cents a
share.
A special shareholder meeting on Michael Dell's offer to take
Dell private that had been scheduled for Friday has been postponed
until Sept. 12.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) rose by $5.86 a share to close at $462.54. On
Friday, the U.S. Justice Department and the attorneys general of 33
states sought a court approval for a proposal that would require
Apple to terminate its e-book deals with the five major book
publishers.
Yelp Inc. (YELP) scored more gains in the wake of its strong
quarterly results, and 23% advance on Thursday. Yelp shares rose
almost 11% Friday, to close at $57.02.
Other gains came from Pandora Media Inc. (P), Facebook Inc.
(FB), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and eBay Inc. (EBAY).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) closed with a gain of almost
14 points at 3,689. Earlier in the day the latest data from the
Labor Department weighed on the market as the unemployment rate
dropped to a four-year-low in July, but fewer jobs were created in
the month than had been expected.
ValueClick Inc. (VCLK) shares were among the sector's biggest
percentage decliners, falling almost 15% to $21.37. The
Internet-advertising company reported disappointing second-quarter
results and gave a third-quarter outlook that fell short of Wall
Street analysts' forecasts. Analysts at Needham & Co. and
Raymond James both cut their ratings on ValueClick's stock.
Losses also came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Oracle Corp. (ORCL)
and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN).
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