By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Tech stocks had a mostly upbeat
session Thursday, with Apple Inc. in focus following its $3 billion
deal to buy Beats, and Palo Alto Networks Inc. posting strong gains
following an upbeat quarterly earnings report.
Apple (AAPL) rose almost 2% to close at $635.38 a share after
the company said late Wednesday it would acquire Beats, which
includes high-end headphone maker Beats Electronics and the Beats
Music streaming service. The deal's $3 billion price tag makes it
Apple's largest acquisition in the company's nearly 40-year
history.
Analysts that follow Apple tended to view the deal as positive,
with the focus likely being on the Beats Music streaming
service.
"Apple appears most interested in the Beats Music streaming
service, which will exist alongside iTunes Radio," said Steve
Milunovich, of UBS. "Catching up to Spotify and Pandora is a tall
order; Apple may have concluded that it needed a separate brand and
approach."
The deal was also announced less than a week before Apple kicks
off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, at which the
company is expected to show off a new service related to software
and home networking.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) rose more than 5%, to $73.17 a
share, after the network security technology company reported
better-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday. Palo Alto said
it earned 11 cents a share, on $150.7 million in revenue, while
analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Palo Alto to earn 10
cents a share on sales of $146.1 million.
Palo Alto also said it settled litigation with Juniper Networks
Inc. (JNPR) over a long-running patent dispute. Under terms of the
agreement, Palo Alto will pay Juniper a one-time settlement of $175
million. The companies agreed to license patents from each other
and not sue each other for eight years.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) shares climbed 3.5% to end the day at
$415.20. Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings used his appearance
at the Code/Conference to criticize cable TV giant Comcast Corp.
(CMCSA) for "taxing" the Internet, as well as Comcast's plan to
acquire Time Warner Cable (TWC).
Among other tech stocks, gains came from Twitter Inc. (TWTR),
Facebook Inc. (FB) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)
The Nasdaq Composite Index (SOX) rose almost 23 points to 4,247
and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) edged into positive
territory.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
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Apple needs Beats deal to revive iTunes
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