Facebook rebounds, but Intel slips on rating
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of
The tech sector slipped into the red as the Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) ended the month with a 7% loss.
The Nasdaq fell a fraction to close at 2,827. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) lost 1%.
Facebook (FB) recovered from early losses to close at $29.60, up 5%.
But Intel (INTC) shares slipped 1% to close at $25.84 after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage of the stock with an underweight rating, citing slower growth and potential margin erosion. Intel was one of the worst performers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) . The Dow fell 26 points.
"Intel has done a great job in the last two years of significantly outgrowing the PC market by structurally increasing pricing," analyst Joseph Moore wrote. "While we don't expect a negative reversion to pricing, we think the key trends that drove the increases -- transition to core architecture, better marketing allowing better price discrimination, structural changes vs. AMD -- have played out."
Moore argued that "continued and secular deceleration in PC replacement rates, 10-15% increases in fixed costs given the high capital spending" could mean that "some margin erosion is inevitable."
Shares of F5 Networks (FFIV) sank 4% to close at $103.48. The networking company on Wednesday said that Mark Anderson, head of worldwide sales, had resigned.
Some analysts portrayed the selloff as an overreaction to the news. "While the departures are a loss to F5, we feel the company is highly structured with a deep management team and we don't anticipate a material disruption in operations," JMP Securities analyst Erik Suppiger wrote.
After posting gains early in the session, shares of
Another bright spot for tech were shares of social gaming firm
,
,
, Copyright ©2013. All rights reserved.