By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- So much for ending the month on a
high note.
Tech stocks turned lower in afternoon trading Friday, with few
gainers of note emerging and the overall sector closing out May
with broad losses. Among sector leaders, declines came from Apple
(AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Facebook Inc. (FB), Hewlett-Packard
Co. (HPQ) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) fell 35 points, or 1%, to
close at 3,455. Still, the tech-heavy market gauge ended the month
with a 3.8% gain.
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) ended the day with a loss of 2 cents a share
at $26.31. A report in London's Telegraph newspaper said British
Telecom was dumping Yahoo as the email service provider for 6
million broadband customers due to concerns about security and
hacking of customer accounts.
Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) was among the top percentage
decliners, as the network-security technology company's shares fell
almost 11% to close at $48.52. Late Thursday, Palo Alto reported a
fiscal third-quarter loss and sales that missed Wall Street
analysts forecasts.
Some gainers managed to emerge, however.
Dell Inc. (DELL) ended the day up by 9 cents a share at $13.36
after the company set a July 18 date for a shareholder vote on a
proposal by Chief Executive Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners
to take the PC company private.
Netflix (NFLX) shares rose $3.59, or 1.6%, to close at $226.25.
Late Thursday, it was announced that Netflix will be added to the
Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) before the stock market opening on June 3.
Netflix will replace Perrigo Co. (PRGO), which is moving its
listing to the New York Stock Exchange.
Netflix shares ended the week down by 1.1% in the wake of the
video-streaming company's launch of the new season of "Arrested
Development" on Sunday.
Chipmaker OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) saw its shares
surge more than 18%, to $18.37, following an upbeat earnings report
late Thursday. OmniVision, which makes image sensors for
smartphones and other electronic devices, said that for its fiscal
fourth quarter, it earned 31 cents a share, excluding one-time
items, on revenue of $336.2 million. Analysts had forecast
OmniVision to earn 21 cents a share on sales of $318.9 million.
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