By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A decline in Broadcom Corp.
highlighted action in the tech sector Wednesday after the
communications-chip maker gave a mixed update to its fourth-quarter
business outlook.
Shares of Broadcom (BRCM) fell more than 4% after the company
said late Tuesday that it expects to report sales of $1.9 billion
for the quarter ending Dec. 31. Earlier, Broadcom had projected
sales of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion for the period.
However, Broadcom also said that gross margins from its products
would be down slightly from the third quarter, instead of remaining
flat.
Chip-equipment maker FormFactor Inc. (FORM) dropped more than
6%. Earlier in the week, FormFactor announced several changes to
its board of directors.
Declines also came from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), IBM Corp.
(IBM), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Intel Corp. (INTC).
However, the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose almost 9 points
to 2,636. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) dipped into
the red.
Gainers included Apple Inc. (AAPL), which rose $1.26 a share to
$321.52. Before the market opened, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster raised his price target on Apple's stock to $438 a share
from $431, mostly due to anticipation that the iPhone will come to
Verizon Wireless (VZ) next year.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) rose 4 cents a share to $16.67. Late Tuesday,
Yahoo confirmed it would cut 4% of its roughly 14,000 employees.
.
Advances also came from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc.
(DELL), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) and Netflix Inc. (NFLX).
FleetCor Technologies rose $4.19 a share, or almost 18%, to
$27.07 after making its public market debut Wednesday. The
electronic-payment-card technology company offered to sell 12.7
million shares at $23 apiece, which was at the low end of its
initially expected range of $23 to $26 a share.