By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of BlackBerry and Groupon
rallied on Thursday morning, leading the tech sector higher along
with some notable gains among Internet stocks.
BlackBerry (RIMM) was up more than 2%, following a report from
Wednesday afternoon in The Wall Street Journal that the company was
moving more decisively to find a buyer. The shares had popped more
than 5% in the final minutes of Wednesday's session after the
initial report.
Groupon (GRPN) was up 6%, after Morgan Stanley upgraded the
stock to overweight, or buy, on the company's gains in North
America.
Analyst Scott Devitt wrote that "the turnaround in North America
from the introduction of the deal bank and strength in mobile give
us increasing confidence that Groupon can stage a turnaround" in
Europe and "execute against its sizable market opportunity."
Morgan Stanley also raised its price target for Yelp Inc. (YELP)
to $49 from $27, citing larger revenue opportunities. Yelp was up
more than 3%.
On the other hand, the broker downgraded OpenTable (OPEN) to
underweight, saying "the Street embeds OpenTable achieving a level
of seated diner penetration that could be challenging to
achieve."
Morgan Stanley also cut its rating for Zillow Inc. (ZILLOW.XX)
to underweight, arguing that the "stock is overvalued relative to
its market opportunity." OpenTable and Zillow were each down more
than 2% in early trades.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) traded up more than 1%. Morgan Stanley upped
its price target for Netflix to $314 from $270. RBC Capital analyst
Mark Mahaney also upped his price target to $330 from $280.
"We continue to believe that Netflix has achieved a level of
sustainable scale, growth, and profitability that isn't currently
factored into its stock price," Mahaney wrote.
On the downside, shares of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) shed 1%, the
worst performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) which was
off 46 points.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) climbed 0.3% to 3,661. The
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up 0.7%.
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