TECH STOCKS: Apple Inches Upward; EBay Falls

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. reached another 52-week-high as eBay Inc. falls in early trading following the departure of a key executive.

Apple (AAPL) rose $1.05 a share to $95.05 one day after the company had a 7-for-1 stock split. Analysts that follow Apple say the next catalyst for the company will be the release of products that could include an Apple-branded television and what is being called the iWatch.

EBay (EBAY) was down by more than 2% at $48.45 a share. On Monday, eBay said David Marcus, president of PayPal, is leaving the company to become head of messaging products at Facebook Inc. (FB).

Chad Bartley, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities, said Marcus' departure "will be a negative for eBay and could pressure [the company's] shares in the near term," and raises questions about the long-term growth outlook for PayPal.

Facebook shares rose 2.5% to $64.47.

Online gaming company Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) rose more than 6% to $3.19 a share after UBS analyst Eric Sheridan said he remains "constructive" about Zynga's long-term prospects following a meeting with company Chief Financial Officer David Lee.

Intel Corp. (INTC) rose 1.3% to $28.27, Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) was breaking even at $19.05 and Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) slipped by 7 cents a share to $38.05. Canaccord Genuity analyst Matthew Ramsay on Tuesday resumed coverage on all three chip companies with hold ratings.

Among other tech stocks, gains came from Netflix Inc. (NFLX), Twitter Inc. (TWTR), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO).

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was off by 4 points at 4,331 while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) managed to eke out a small gain.

More tech news from MarketWatch:

Gamers name Sony victorious over Microsoft at E3

Next up for Apple: new product releases

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