By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of BlackBerry and Groupon
rallied on Thursday, leading the tech sector higher along with some
notable gains among Internet stocks.
BlackBerry (RIMM) was up 2.3% to close at $10.99 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 3.6% to close at $10.66 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
5.3% to close at $58.91.
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."
OpenTable's stock shed 3.3% to close at $73.99.
Morgan Stanley also cut its rating for Zillow Inc. (ZILLOW.XX)
to underweight, arguing that the "stock is overvalued relative to
its market opportunity." Zillow declined 2% to close at $98.51.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) traded up about 1% to close at $295.11.
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 0.7% to
close at $22.12.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) climbed 0.3% to close at
3,659. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up 0.7%.
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