TECH STOCKS: Tech Stocks Try To Find Early Upward Momentum

By Rex Crum

Technology stocks began to show some signs of life in early trading Wednesday as several sector leaders advanced in an attempt to turn around from the previous session's big losses.

Gains came from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Dell Inc. (DELL), IBM Corp. (IBM) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) remained near its breakeven point of 1969, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) each edged upward.

The sector tried to come back from some initial negativity in the wake of the latest ADP employment report, which said the U.S. private sector lost 298,000 jobs in August.

Video-game publisher Take-Two Interactive Inc. (TTWO) rose 29 cents a share, or 2.6%, to $10.42. Late Tuesday, the publisher of the "Grand Theft Auto" game franchise said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss and gave a fourth-quarter earnings and revenue outlook that could end up on the low side of analysts' consensus estimates.

Verifone Holdings Inc. (PAY) shares surged $1.94, or more than 17%, to $13.05 after the electronic-payment technology company reported late Tuesday a third-quarter profit of $21.9 million, or 26 cents a share, on $211.2 million, compared with a loss of $7.2 million, or 9 cents a share, on $258.7 million in sales during the same period a year ago.

Daniel Perlin, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, raised his rating on Verifone to sector perform from underperform following the company's results.