TECH STOCKS: Investors Flock To Amazon, Adobe

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Amazon.com Inc. claimed the attention of much of the tech sector Wednesday, as the company took what may be its biggest step yet into the consumer-electronics market with the unveiling of its Fire Phone smartphone.

Amazon (AMZN) shares rose 2.7% to close at $334.38 after company Chief Executive Jeff Bezos showed off the Fire Phone at an event in Seattle. The Fire Phone comes with a 3-D technology called "Dynamic Perspective" and some of the features of Amazon's Fire TV set-top box and Kindle tablet devices.

AT&T will be the exclusive carrier of the Fire Phone, which will cost either $199.99 or $299.99 with a two-year service contract. The device will begin shipping on July 25.

Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) had a strong day, with its shares rising more than 8% to close at $73.08 a share after the software company reported strong second-quarter earnings and revenue growth. Adobe's results were led by growing cloud-based software subscriptions. Adobe said it earned 37 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on $1.07 billion in sales. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Adobe to earn 30 cents a share on revenue of $1.03 billion.

Adobe said it added 464,000 Creative Cloud subscribers in the quarter, to give it 2.3 million such subscribers.

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) shares rose 1.2% to close at $42.81 a day after reports surfaced saying the company was close to a deal to acquire hotel and restaurant software developers Micros Systems Inc. (MCRS) for more than $5 billion.

Gains also came from LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), Pandora Media Inc. (P), Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) and Facebook Inc. (FB).

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) closed with a gain of 25 points at 4,362, but the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also dipped into the red.

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