By Rex Crum
Technology stocks tried to move forward Friday following several
days of broad losses, but Palm Inc.'s decline continued to
highlight the sector's losses.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) shed 5.4 points to fall to
2,228, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was off by
almost 1%. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was also in
the red.
For the week, the Nasdaq is off by 0.7%, but up almost 4% for
the month.
Analysts at UBS and Kaufman Bros. cut their ratings on Palm
(PALM), one day after the smartphone maker warned of disappointing
sales this year. Palm shares on Friday fell another 6%, to $6.15,
after surrendering almost 20% on Thursday.
UBS analyst Maynard Um cut his rating on Palm to sell from
neutral, saying that the company is suffering from a
weaker-than-expected launch of its Pre and other smartphones at
Verizon Wireless. Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu cited the same
reasons among why he cut his rating on Palm's stock to hold from
buy.
With Palm leading the declines, losses also came from Dell Inc.
(DELL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE),
Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Intel Corp. (INTC).
Business-software company Novell Inc. (NOVL) gave up 11 cents a
share, or 2%, to slip to $4.70. Late Thursday, the company reported
its first-quarter earnings nearly doubled from a year ago to $20.2
million, or 6 cents a share. However, its sales fell by 6% to
$202.4 million.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) shed 5.4 points to fall to
2,228, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was off by
almost 1%. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was also in
the red.
Small gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Seagate Technology (STX).