By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Angie's List Inc. flexed its
muscles following a rating upgrade and proved to be a rare notable
gainer on what is looking to be a negative day for the tech sector
Thursday.
Angie's List (ANGI) shares climbed more than 8%, to $14.88,
after Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler raised his rating on the
online professional-services recommendation company to strong buy
from outperform. In a research note, Kessler said that following a
survey of merchants, he expects Angie's List's sales productivity
and member additions to improve in the early part of this year.
Mild gains also came from Yelp Inc. (YELP), Hewlett-Packard Co.
(HPQ), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and AOL Inc. (AOL).
But decliners were in the majority, with Twitter Inc. (TWTR)
down another 2% at $57.99 a share. Before the market opened, Cowen
& Co. analyst John Blackledge initiated his coverage of Twitter
with an underperform, or sell rating and a $32-a-share price
target.
In a research note, Blackledge said a survey of advertising
buyers suggested that they rate their return on their investments
with Twitter below that of other social-networking sites like
Facebook Inc. (FB) and LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD). Blackledge added that
"the key investment controversy for Twitter centers on growing
revenue rapidly."
Losses also came from Seagate Technology (STX), down almost 3%
at $57.98; Arm Holdings Plc (ARMHY), off by 7% at $49.26; Groupon
Inc. (GRPN), which fell almost 2%, to $11.56 and Pandora Media Inc.
(P), down 1.4% to trade at $32.28.
Compuware Corp. (CPWR) shed 4 cents a share to trade at $11.04
after the business-software maker said it reached an agreement with
activist investor Elliott Management Corp. Under the deal, Elliott
will be eligible to nominate two directors to Compuware's board of
directors and it will agree to forgo a proxy fight for control of
the Compuware board.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gave up 13 points to fall to
4,152 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was off by
almost 1%.
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