***MXIM ($48~$52) among chip stocks extending gains Ericsson's outlook benefits wireless component vendors
By Chris Kraeuter, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:39 PM ET Feb. 6, 2004
Gains accelerated as the trading session progressed. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, chart, profile) added 4.8 percent to 519.4, while the Goldman Sachs Hardware Index ($GHA: news, chart, profile) gained 2.3 percent to 258.3.
Friday's surge lifted both the chip and hardware indexes into positive territory for the week and back above their 50-day simple moving averages. The chip index ended the week up 1 percent and the hardware index added 1.3 percent.
Shares of Maxim (MXIM: news, chart, profile) added 7.7 percent to $52.48 following financial results that topped Wall Street expectations for the company's fiscal second quarter. Maxim's chips are used in a variety of applications, including automobiles, cell phones and networking products.
Most encouraging to investors, Maxim's orders rose 19 percent on a sequential basis to $417 million. The company predicted its third-quarter orders could grow to between $420 million and $440 million. See full story.
Another factor helping tech stocks on Friday: Swedish cell-phone vendor and supplier Ericsson said business this year could be flat to slightly higher compared with a prior projection calling for flat sales.
The comments helped shares of cell-phone chipmakers like Texas Instruments (TXN: news, chart, profile), Fairchild Semiconductor (FCS: news, chart, profile), Linear Technology (LLTC: news, chart, profile), and Cypress Semiconductor (CY: news, chart, profile), each of which added at least 4 percent.
Among computer hardware stocks, Western Digital (WDC: news, chart, profile) led the charge with a gain of about 8.7 percent to $10.92. Also, Adaptec (ADPT: news, chart, profile), Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD: news, chart, profile) and Maxtor (MXO: news, chart, profile) each added at least 4 percent.
On the flip side, Gateway (GTW: news, chart, profile) ticked lower, as did Storage Technology (STK: news, chart, profile).
Chris Kraeuter is a reporter for CBS.MarketWatch.com in San Francisco. |
