By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks were mostly in the
red Wednesday, as the sector followed the broad market south and
awaited the release of Cisco Systems Inc.'s quarterly results after
the market close.
Cisco (CSCO) gave up 27 cents a share to trade at $24.07 in
advance of the company's fiscal first-quarter results. Analysts
surveyed by FactSet Research estimate Cisco will earn 40 cents a
share on $10.75 billion in sales, up from 36 cents a share on
revenue of $9 billion in the year-ago period.
With Cisco in the red, other tech stocks followed suit. Losses
came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Intel Corp.
(INTC), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Dell Inc. (DELL).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 13 points to 2,550, while
the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up more than
1%.
Google Inc. (GOOG) shares fell $6.77 to $618.38. However, the
Internet kingpin was getting more attention for a company plan to
give 10% raises to every one of its 23,000 employees.
Video-technology company Sonic Solutions Inc. (SNIC) fell by $1
a share, or more than 8%, to $11.10, after the company gave a
weaker-than-expected revenue forecast for its fiscal
third-quarter.
Other losses came from Western Digital Corp. (WDC), down $1.16 a
share, or 3.4%, at $33.39; Lam Research Corp. (LRCX), which fell
$1.73 a share, or 3.7%, to $45.29, and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
(AMD), down 15 cents a share, or 2%, at $7.76.