By Rex Crum
Tech stocks took a beating Tuesday, with IBM Corp. and Texas
Instruments Inc. among the leading losers, and Apple Inc. also
joining in the slide in advance of its quarterly earnings
report.
IBM (IBM) fell $5.70 a share, or 4.4%, to $124.09 after the tech
giant reported quarterly results late Monday. Big Blue reported a
second-quarter profit of $3.39 billion, or $2.61 a share to top
analysts' forecasts of $2.58 a share. However, IBM's revenue of
$23.72 billion fell shy of the consensus estimate of $24.17
billion.
IBM said foreign currency translations conspired to lower the
company's sales by $500 million.
TI (TXN) was also mired in the red, falling $1.25 a share, or
5%, to $24.30. In the chip maker's case, its second-quarter
earnings nearly tripled, to $769 million, or 62 cents a share, from
$260 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue climbed to
$3.5 billion from $2.46 billion.
However, some analysts said that investors were looking for even
more from TI. The company met the earnings-per-share forecast of
analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, but its sales fell just shy
of the $3.52 billion estimate from Wall Street.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) gave up $3.38 a share to fall to $242.30 in
advance of its quarterly results, due after Tuesday's market close.
On Monday, Apple's shares took a hit amid issues regarding the
company's gross margins, competition from Motorola Inc.'s (MOT) new
Droid X smart phone, and ongoing concerns about Apple's response to
complaints about the iPhone 4's reception problems.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), which also reports quarterly results after
the market closes, fell 20 cents a share to $14.90.
Seagate Technology (STX) and Juniper Networks Inc. (JNPR), both
of which report quarterly results later in the day, saw their
shares slide into the red.
Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) gave up $1.63 a share to fall to $118.32.
Late Monday, Amazon said its Kindle sales have tripled since the
company cut the price of the e-book reader to $189 from $259 in
late June. Amazon reports its quarterly results on Thursday.
The losses helped drag down the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) by
more than 33 points, or 1.5%, to 2,164, while the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) gave up more than 3%. The Morgan Stanley
High Tech 35 Index (MSH) was off by 2.3%.