TECH STOCKS: Nvidia's Gains Stand Out Among Tech Stocks

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

Graphics chip maker rises as results, outlook impress

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks ended the week with a broad slate of gains Friday, with Nvidia Corp. among those flexing its muscles after the graphics chip maker delivered an upbeat quarterly earnings report and outlook.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares rose almost 9% to close at $19 after the company reported on Thursday a second-quarter profit of 30 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on $1.1 billion in revenue. Wall Street analysts had forecast Nvidia to earn 19 cents a share on sales of $1.1 billion. The company also forecast third-quarter sales above analysts' estimates.

Nvidia said its results were aided by strong sales of its Tesla chips used in data centers and its Tegra chips, which have been adopted in many automobiles. Analyst Rajvindra Gill, of Needham & Co., raised his rating on Nvidia to buy from hold with a price target of $23 a share, citing the company's growth beyond the consumer PC market.

Gains also came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), IBM Corp. (IBM), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Google Inc.(GOOGL)

Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) fell to a 52-week-low of $2.70 before trimming its losses toclose with a loss of 1.4% at $2.88 a share after the social-gaming company on Thursday gave a disappointing second-quarter report and third-quarter outlook.

Declines also came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Facebook Inc. (FB)

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose almost 36 points, or nearly 1%, to close at 4,370. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 1.1%

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