By Dan Gallagher
Tech stocks managed to post mild gains Friday morning despite a
small selloff in the semiconductor sector, as National
Semiconductor Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. both declined after
issuing updated guidance for their current fiscal quarters.
Nat Semi (NSM) shares fell more than 4% to $12.38 in early
trades. The chip maker reported a strong increase in first-quarter
profit, but issued a forecast for the current period that fell
short of Wall Street's estimates.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Don Macleod said,
"Slower growth in our end markets and distribution channel, along
with some likely inventory reduction, will mute the seasonal growth
that we would normally see in our business during this time of the
year."
Texas Instruments (TXN) was off 0.4% to $23.73. Late Thursday,
the company tightened the range of its earnings and sales
forecast.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) lost 0.2% in early
trades, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 0.3% to 2,243
and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) posted a fractional
gain.
Top gainers in early trades included Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and
Amazon.com (AMZN).
PC makers Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL) and Apple
Inc. (AAPL) were all in the red, as was networking giant Cisco
Systems Inc. (CSCO).
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) shares slipped 0.4%. Stephen Elop -- who
heads Microsoft's business division -- resigned to take the CEO
post at cell-phone giant Nokia Corp. (NOK).