By Dow Jones Business News, March 20, 2013, 11:16:00 AM EDT
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks were up Wednesday morning with Adobe Systems Inc. and Blackberry Inc.
putting in strong gains, and Hewlett-Packard Co. also edging upward ahead of the company's shareholders' meeting.
Adobe ( ADBE ) shares rose more than 4.5% to $42.60 after the software company reported late Tuesday a fiscal first-
quarter profit of $65.1 million, or 13 cents a share, on $1.01 billion in revenue. During the same period a year ago,
Adobe earned $185.2 million, or 37 cents a share on sales of $1.05 billion.
Excluding one-time items, Adobe would have earned 35 cents a share, while analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast
the company to earn 31 cents a share on revenue of $985.2 million.
Analyst Blair Abernathy, of Stifel Nicolaus, lowered his rating on Adobe to hold from buy due to valuation matters, as
the company's shares have risen beyond his $37-a-share price target.
Blackberry (RIMM) shares rose more than 5%, to $15.83 after analyst Ehud Gelblum, of Morgan Stanley, raised his rating
on the company to overweight from under weight, and more-than-doubled his price target on Blackberry's stock to $22 a
share from $10.
In a research note, Gelblum said Blackberry is likely to see its gross margins improve as it shifts to its new
Blackberry 10 smartphones, and the company could find more business traction in the mid-range smartphone market.
Hewlett-Packard Co. ( HPQ ) shares rose 2%, to $23.55, as the company prepared to face what may be a raucous shareholder
meeting. Board members Ray Lane and Marc Andreessen are facing opposition to their re-election from shareholder groups.
Model N Inc. (MODN) shares rose as much as 38%, to $21.43, as the software services company made its public debut
Wednesday. Model N began trading on the New York Stock Exchange after pricing its offering of 6.74 million shares at $
15.50 Tuesday night. The company had originally priced its shares in a range of $12.50 to $14.50 a share. Redwood City,
Calif.-based Model N provides revenue management software services for the life science and technology industries.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 0.6%to 3,248, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up by 1.2%
and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) rose 0.5%.
Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) shares gave up almost 1%, to slip to $450.76. Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley cut his
price target on Apple to $600 a share from $650, but left his buy rating intact.
Yahoo Inc. ( YHOO ) slipped fractionally after BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis cut his rating on the company to hold
form buy due to possible issues that could affect Yahoo's revenue growth in the coming quarters. Separately, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Yahoo was in talks to acquire a majority stake in Dailymotion, the online video
site owned by French telecom company Telecom-Orange.
Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) fell by 17 cents a share, or 5%, to $3.30. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post cut his
rating on Zynga to neutral from buy, mostly due to valuation matters and that the company's value lies mostly in its
core gaming businesses.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-20-131116ET
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