TECH STOCKS: Apple, Microsoft On The Rise With Earnings On Tap

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarkeWatch) -- Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., two of the biggest names in the tech sector, saw their shares rise Tuesday as investors await their earnings reports.

Both companies are scheduled to report results after the close of trading Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by FactSet estimate Apple (AAPL) will earn $1.23 a share on $37.98 billion in revenue for its fiscal third quarter. The company will likely face questions about plans for new products through the end of year, as well as its recent $3.1 billion acquisition of Beats and its new enterprise partnership with IBM Corp.

Apple's shares were up by 28 cents at $94.22.

Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 24 cents to $45.08 as the company is set to give its fiscal fourth-quarter report after the market closes. The results come less than a week after Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said the company would cut 18,000 jobs over the next year, largely due to its $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's (NOK) devices and services business.

Analysts estimate Microsoft will report a profit of 61 cents a share on $23 billion in sales for the quarter.

Printing technology company Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) was having a good day, as its shares rose almost 4% to $48.72. Before the market opened, Lexmark reported a second-quarter profit of 99 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on $894 million in sales. Lexmark also raised its full-year earnings outlook to between $3.95 and $4.15 a share from an earlier forecast of $3.80 to $4 a share.

One notable decliner was Netflix Inc. (NFLX), which gave up 4% to fall to $433.80 a share.

On Monday, the online video-streaming company reported a second-quarter profit of $1.15 a share on $1.34 billion in revenue, and forecast 3.7 million new subscribers in its third quarter. However, concerns about expenses related to Netflix's expansion into six European countries in September led to some negativity on how those efforts may impact earnings in the short term.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), which includes many leading tech stocks, rose 36 points to 4,460 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up by 0.7%.

More tech news from MarketWatch:

IPhone, Beats deal will get attention with Apple's results

AMD's turnaround hits a big snag

Analysts see Facebook's revenue rising

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