By Rex Crum
Tech stocks put in a strong performance Wednesday as the sector
came to life and erased the previous session's losses on a day in
which AT&T said it would do away with unlimited wireless-data
plans for its mobile-phone customers.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), home to many leading tech
stocks, climbed almost 59 points, or 2.6%, to close at 2,281. The
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 3.6% and the Morgan
Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) added 2.4%.
Among leading tech stocks, hard-disk-drive maker Seagate
Technology (STX), rose 92 cents a share, or 6.4%, to $15.38,
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), was up $1.69, ore 3.7%, to close at
$47.27 a share, and gains also came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), IBM
Corp. (IBM) and Intel Corp. (INTC).
AT&T Inc. (T) rose 45 cents a share, or almost 2%, to close
at $24.78 after the telecom giant said it would end its unlimited
wireless-data plans and move toward a tiered billing structure.
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) rose $2.82 a share, or 4.8%, to
$61.85. Shaw Wu, an analyst with Kaufman Bros., said AT&T's
tiered plan is a positive for RIM as its email network "enjoys a
bandwidth efficiency advantage."
DivX Inc. (DIVX) climbed $1.84, or 26.5%, to $8.79 after Sonic
Solutions Inc. (SNIC) said it would acquire the digital media
company for $323 million. The deal values DivX at $9.83 a share, a
41% premium over its Tuesday closing price.
Separately, Sonic released preliminary fourth-quarter results.
The company said it earned $1.2 million, or 4 cents a share, on
$26.4 million, compared with earnings of $328,000, or a penny a
share, on $32.2 million in sales a year ago.
Sonic's shares fell $1.12 or more than 9.5%, to $10.71.