By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks closed Friday with
broad gains, led by advances from Intel Corp. and online restaurant
reservation company OpenTable Inc. while Finisar Corp. shares were
bruised following a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast from the
optical equipment maker.
The Select Sector Technology SPDR ETF (XLK) rose 0.6% on the
day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) climbed 13
points to 4,310 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose
1%.
Intel (INTC) rose almost 7% to $29.87 after the world's largest
semiconductor company on Thursday raised its second-quarter revenue
forecast to a range of $13.4 billion to $14 billion from an earlier
estimate of $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion. Intel said that it was
seeing greater-than-expected demand for business PCs, and the
company now expects to see revenue grow slightly for the entire
year. The company had earlier forecast full-year sales to be flat
with a year ago.
OpenTable (OPEN) shares surged 47% to $103.57 after it agreed to
be acquired by online travel agency Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) for
$2.6 billion in cash. The deal values OpenTable at $103 a share.
Priceline's shares fell 3% on the day.
Other Internet-based stocks rose in the wake of the
Priceline-OpenTable deal, with Yelp Inc. (YELP) up almost 14%,
Groupon Inc. (GRPN) rising nearly 4% and online falsh-deal company
Zulily Inc. (ZU) up by 5%.
One of the day's biggest decliners was Finisar Corp. (FNSR),
which fell almost 22% to $19.71 a share. Late Thursday, the
optical-communications equipment maker gave a weaker-than-expected
fiscal first-quarter earnings, excluding one-time items, of 30
cents to 34 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had forecast
Finisar to earn 41 cents a share.
More tech news from MarketWatch:
Priceline to buy OpenTable for $2.6 billion
Priceline reserves a healthy premium for OpenTable
Intel lifts outlook on business PC demand
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