By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com
flexed their muscles Friday and the two tech heavyweights helped
the tech sector withstand losses from the likes of Apple Inc. and
close the week out on an upbeat note.
Also getting attention was Twitter Inc. (TWTR) after the
micro-blogging company late Thursday set a price range of $17 to
$20 a share for its IPO, which reportedly could take place in early
November.
The action helped push the Nasdaq (RIXF) up by 14 points to
close at 3,943. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (RIXF) rose
0.4% and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) also closed with
a small gain.
Investors gave high marks to Microsoft (MSFT), sending its
shares up 6% to close at $35.73 a day after the tech giant reported
better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Microsoft said
it earned $5.24 billion, or 62 cents a share, on revenue of $18.53
billion. During the year-ago period, Microsoft earned $4.7 billion,
or 53 cents a share, on $16 billion in sales.
Microsoft said its results were boosted by sales of cloud
services and its business applications. Rick Sherlund, of Nomura
Equity Research, also cited Microsoft's $400 million in revenue
from Surface tablet sales as an a upbeat sign for the company,
especially at a time when the PC market is declining.
"Any less of a drag from the PC business and related consumer
shift to tablets and notebooks is good news," Sherlund said.
Amazon (AMZN) surged by almost 10%, to end the week at $363.39 a
share after the Internet-retailing leader cut its third-quarter
loss from a year ago and reported better-than-expected sales
figures.
Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler used Amazon's results as the
basis for upgrading his rating on the company's stock to strong by
from market perform. Kessler cited Amazon's revenue momentum and
continuing growth in the U.S. among the reasons for his stock
upgrade.
Online social-gaming company Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) climbed more than
5% to $3.73 in the wake of the social-gaming company posting better
sales than analysts had forecast, and cutting its loss from a year
ago. It was the first full quarter of results for Zynga since
former Microsoft executive Don Mattrick became the company's chief
executive.
Other gains came from Pandora Media Inc. (P), Oracle Corp.
(ORCL) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).
Apple (AAPL), meanwhile, fell by 1% to close at $525.96 in
advance of the iPad maker's quarterly results, due after the close
of trading Monday.
Decliners also included Facebook Inc. (FB), Google Inc. (GOOG)
and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO).
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