TECH STOCKS: Amazon Falls, But Facebook, H-P, Apple Rise

By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Amazon.com Inc. and chip stocks weighed down the tech sector on Friday, but the group got a lift from rising shares of Facebook Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Inc.

Amazon (AMZN) reported results that beat Wall Street estimates, but analysts noted signs of slower growth. That was enough to sink the stock, which shed more than 5% Friday, though some analysts remained upbeat about the company's direction.

"We continue to see the company benefiting from the secular shifts of retail, advertising, computing power and infrastructure moving to the Internet/Cloud," Topeka Capital analyst Victor Anthony said in a note.

Meanwhile, chip stocks headed south, weighing down the tech sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was down more than 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) gave up a fraction to stand at 3,275. The benchmark was poised to end the week with a 2% gain.

Among the top chip decliners was KLA-Tencor (KLAC),shares of which were down more than 9%. The semiconductor capital equipment posted a decline in earnings and revenue on Tuesday.

Shares of Altera Corp. (ALTR) also fell more than 5% after the chip company reported a weaker-than-expected sales outlook. Also in the red were shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , Intel Corp. (INTC) and Texas Instruments.(TXN)

On the upside, Facebook Inc. (FB) saw its stock rise 3%. Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler upgraded the stock to strong buy, citing "the expectation for increasing monetization driven by new ad formats" and "increasing ad load."

"We believe Facebook constrained its ad load in the fourth quarter," he wrote.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares also traded up more than 1%, while Hewlett-Packard (HGH.XX) rose more than 3%, the best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow was up 16 points at 14,718.

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