MIDDAY MARKETS: Techs rebound
Techs were on the rebound at midday Friday, as techs shook off IBM's bad vibes and drifted up on earnings. The Nasdaq rose 32.81 to 2,834.76, and the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 134.56 to 10,432.25.
The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index sank 2 to 309.63.
Shares of Dow component IBM (NYSE: IBM) recovered 2 3/16 to 93 3/16 after they tanked, sucking techs down in their Y2K tailwind Thursday. Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP) was also on the rebound, up 1/8 to 75 1/8. Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) rose 1/4 to 39 3/4 and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) lost 7/16 to 18 9/16.
Among the day's IPOs, MCK Communications, (Nasdaq: MCKC) rose 6 9/16 to 22 9/16, after the maker of voice networks equipment, priced 3.4 million shares at $16 per share. Sycamore Networks (Nasdaq: SCMR), with 7.5 million shares priced at a lofty $38 each, and NaviSite, with 5.5 million shares at $14 each, had yet to debut.
Swedish wireless company Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) was topping the gainers up 5-5/16, or nearly 16 percent, to 39-1/8 after it reported earnings that were lower than a year earlier but still surpassed analysts' expectations. Ericsson also issued an optimistic forecast for the quarters ahead, citing strong demand for its new mobile phone products. Sprint (NYSWE: FON) was up 3/4 to 65 3/4 and AT&T Corp. (NYSE: T) shed 7/16 to 42 15/16.
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT), up 4 3/4 to 62 1/16, posted a loss of 43 cents a share in its third quarter Friday, much better than the loss of 52 cents a share predicted by First Call. The maker of said U.S. and European network construction was ahead of schedule and it experienced strong demand for all its products.
Investors jumped ship from Pervasive Software Inc. (Nasdaq: PVSW) Friday morning, sending the stock down 63 percent after the company announced a major shift in its business model during the conference call for its earnings reported last night. Shares were down 22 5/8 to 13 716. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) was down 7/16 to 92 5/8.
Merrill Lynch analyst Henry Blodget is suddenly worried about Internet valuations. Blodget downgraded Inktomi (Nasdaq: INKT) from an intermediate term "accumulate" to a "neutral" after the company posted a smaller-than-expected fourth quarter loss. Shares fell 18 1/2 to 102, or 15 percent.
Brooktrout Inc. (Nasdaq: BRKT), up 11/16 to 12 7/8, was wrestlingwith analysts and making things really interesting for shareholders as the company left it unclear whether it had beat, met, or missed First Call consensus estimates.
Anadigics (Nasdaq: ANAD), up 2 to 37 3/8, reported Friday that rocketing sales, and an 88 percent increase in wireless revenue drove net income up to 16 cents a share for its third quarter, beating First Call's estimate of 11 cents a share.
Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) rose 1 1/2 to 73 3/16 and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) gained 1 7/16 to 70 5/8.
Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) said on Friday it has filed suit against competitor Barnesandnoble.com Inc. (Nasdaq: BNBN), alleging that the online book and music retailer copied Amazon.com's patented 1-Click technology for online shopping. Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) rose 9/16 to 179 7/8, America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) lost 3/8 to 108 7/8.