By Rex Crum
Technology stocks continued to gain ground in afternoon trading
Tuesday, with the sector's action highlighted by Emerson Electric
Co.'s $1.2 billion acquisition of networking-equipment company
Avocent Corp.
Emerson (EMR) said the all-cash deal values Avocent (AVCT) at
$25 a share, a 22% premium over the stock's Monday closing price of
$20.52 a share. Avocent makes hardware and software that companies
used to manage data centers and counts Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) among its
customers.
Avocent shares rose $4.33 to $24.85, while Emerson's stock added
64 cents a share to trade at $39.31.
Another of Avocent's customers, Brocade Communications Systems
(BRCD), saw its shares rise 23 cents to $9.33. Reports surfaced on
Monday saying the maker or network routers and switches has put
itself up for sale, and that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) may be a
potential buyer.
H-P shares rose 58 cents to $46.65.
Among other leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple Inc.
(AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc. (DELL), Cisco Systems
Inc. (CSCO), Intel Corp. (INTC) and IBM Corp. (IBM).
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 30 points to
2,097, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 1.6%
and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) climbed 1.7%.