TECH STOCKS: Cisco Among Tech Gainers With Earnings On Tap

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks looked to add to the prior day's gains in early trading Wednesday as investor prepare to turn their attention toward the earnings results from Cisco Systems Inc. after the close of trading.

Cisco (CSCO) edged up by 9 cents a share to $22.79 ahead of the networking equipment maker's fiscal second-quarter results. Analysts surveyed by FactSet estimate Cisco will earn 46 cents a share on $11.04 billion in revenue. That's down from the 51 cents a share Cisco earned on sales of $12.1 billion a year ago.

NetApp Inc. (NTAP) rose 1%, to $44.16 and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) was up by 1.3% at $16.47 a share. Both companies are also on tap to report quarterly results after the market closes.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was off by 3% to trade at $350.33. Before the market opened, UBS analyst Eric Sheridan cut his rating on Amazon to neutral from buy and lowered his price target to $375 a share from $450, partly due to a survey suggesting fewer Amazon Prime subscribers would renew their memberships if Amazon raises it annual fee above its current $79 rate.

TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) climbed more than 6%, to $89.74 after the online travel review and recommendation company reported better than expected fourth-quarter revenue late Tuesday.

Among leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Micron Technology Inc. (MU) and IBM Corp. (IBM). The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 12 points to 4,203 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up by almost 1%.

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