By Rex Crum
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks finished slightly
higher Thursday, but several decliners made their presence felt on
the sector by the time the market closed.
Motorola Inc. (MOT) shares exemplified the day's action. The
company's shares climbed as much as 6%, but gave back nearly all of
that to close with a gain of 4 cents to $8.13. The company reported
an increase in its third-quarter earnings, led by smart-phone sales
running on Google Inc.'s (GOOG) Android operating system. Motorola
said its mobile-phone business turned a profit for the first time
in three years.
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) rose 72 cents a share to $51.11
after the provider of Web traffic-management technology reported a
third-quarter profit of $39.7 million, or 21 cents a share, up from
$32.7 million, or 18 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Revenue rose to $253.6 million from $206.5 million. The company
also forecast fourth-quarter sales in a range of $272 million to
$285 million.
Security-software maker Symantec Corp. (SYMC) ended the day up
65 cents a share, or more than 4%, at $16.45. On Wednesday,
Symantec reported second-quarter results that beat Wall Street
forecasts and gave a better-than-expected outlook for its third
quarter.
Semiconductor company LSI Corp. (LSI) managed to maintain its
edge, rising 35 cents a share, or 7.4%, to close at $5.09 following
a mixed third-quarter report. LSI said its fourth-quarter sales
should rise from the year-ago period and it could extend its stock
buy-back program.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) rose 23 cents a share to close at $26.28
ahead of the No. 1 software company's earnings report, due after
the market close.
Led by those gains, the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) managed to
eke out a rise of 4 points to close at 2,507. The Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) closed with a slight loss.
Some of the biggest declines came from the optical-networking
sector after Oclaro Inc. (OCLRD) gave a disappointing first-quarter
report and outlook.
Before the market opened Thursday, Oclaro said it earned a penny
a share on $121.3 million in sales. Excluding one-time items,
Oclaro would have earned 6 cents a share, while analysts had
forecast Oclaro to earn 22 cents a share on $123.3 million in
sales. The company also said that for its second quarter it expects
to post sales of $116 million to $124 million, which is below
analysts' estimates of $128.5 million.
That sent Oclaro's stock down by $5.08 a share, or more than
37%, to close at $8.60. Other optical networkers joined in the
retreat, withe JDS Uniphase Inc. (JDSUD) down 11.4% and Finisar
Corp. (FNSR) shares falling more than 6%.