By Benjamin Pimentel
The tech sector began the week with modest gains on Monday,
powered by advances in shares of Google Inc. and Advanced Micro
Devices.
AMD (AMD) was up more than 5% in the first hour of trading as
UBS upgraded the chip maker's rating to buy from neutral, citing
improving PC demand and other factors.
Analyst Uche Orji said the upgrade was based partly on "improved
near term expected growth as our recent checks show that a PC
market tailwind is lifting both Intel and AMD."
Intel (INTC), which reports quarterly results on Tuesday, was up
1.8%. AMD is scheduled to report on Thursday.
Google Inc. (GOOG) gained more than 1.5% as three brokers raised
their price estimates for the Internet giant.
"Discussions with advertising agencies, including a dinner we
hosted with senior agency executives, point to rising spending on
Google since June, led by travel, clothing and home improvement
advertisers," Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell said in a
note.
Other major tech players advanced, including Oracle Corp.
(ORCL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Juniper Networks (JNPR).
Meanwhile, SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) fell more than 1% as UBS
downgraded the chip maker's rating to sell from neutral, citing
pricing pressures and "a seasonal demand peak in October/November
that could limit further average selling price increases."
Also in the red were Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), Dell Inc. (DELL) and
Palm Inc. (PALM)