TECH STOCKS: Nvidia, Marvell Lead Tech Stocks Higher

By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks were mostly higher Tuesday, with solid gains from shares of chipmakers Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology.

Nvidia (NVDA) rallied 4.1% to close at $18.65 after JMP Securities upgraded the stock to market outperform from market perform.

Marvell (MRVL) climbed 3% to close at $16.20 on news that a federal court has rejected Carnegie Mellon University's bid for an injunction that would have prevented the semiconductor company from selling chips that a jury said had infringed on the university's patents.

Marvell will have to pay damages of about $1.54 billion, Marvell said in a statement.

Analysts said the ruling was positive for Marvell. "We believe the post-trial rulings are less damaging than feared," Nomura analyst Sanjay Chaurasia told clients in a note.

FBR analyst Christopher Rolland said the "worst-case scenario of treble damages" has been avoided.

While the total judgment against Nvidia "is not 'chump change,' it removes the threat of treble damages and will likely not freeze the company's buy-back and dividend programs," he told clients in a note.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 1.6% to close at 4,268. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) were each up about 1.6%.

More news from MarketWatch:

Google Glass, Facebook Oculus -- now Twitter Helmet?

Are investors too giddy about BlackBerry?

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires