By Rex Crum
Technology stocks began to show some signs of life in early
trading Wednesday as several sector leaders advanced in an attempt
to turn around from the previous session's big losses.
Gains came from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard
Co. (HPQ), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Dell Inc. (DELL), IBM Corp. (IBM)
and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) remained near its
breakeven point of 1969, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35
Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) each
edged upward.
The sector tried to come back from some initial negativity in
the wake of the latest ADP employment report, which said the U.S.
private sector lost 298,000 jobs in August.
Video-game publisher Take-Two Interactive Inc. (TTWO) rose 29
cents a share, or 2.6%, to $10.42. Late Tuesday, the publisher of
the "Grand Theft Auto" game franchise said it swung to a fiscal
third-quarter loss and gave a fourth-quarter earnings and revenue
outlook that could end up on the low side of analysts' consensus
estimates.
Verifone Holdings Inc. (PAY) shares surged $1.94, or more than
17%, to $13.05 after the electronic-payment technology company
reported late Tuesday a third-quarter profit of $21.9 million, or
26 cents a share, on $211.2 million, compared with a loss of $7.2
million, or 9 cents a share, on $258.7 million in sales during the
same period a year ago.
Daniel Perlin, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, raised his
rating on Verifone to sector perform from underperform following
the company's results.