TECH STOCKS: Tech Stocks End Erratic Day With Mild Gains

By Rex Crum

Technology stocks turned in a day of small gains Tuesday, helping to push the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index to its highest close in 10 months as the market awaited quarterly results from video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc.

The Nasdaq (RIXF) climbed 2.7 points to end the day at 2,011, its best close since Oct. 3, 2008. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) also closed with small gains.

Advancers included Gains also came from Dell Inc. (DELL), NetApp Inc. (NTAP), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE).

Electronic Arts (ERTS) shares rose 34 cents, or 1.6%, to $21.89 ahead of the company's first-quarter earnings report. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimate EA will lose 14 cents a share on almost $724 million in sales for the quarter.

However, those results would be an improvement over the same period a year ago, when EA lost 42 cents a share on revenue of $609 million. EA's results are expected to be helped by strong sales of games associated with Nintendo's Wii video game console.

Other tech companies scheduled to report results after the market close are BMC Software Inc. (BMC), Glu Mobile Inc. (GLUU) and Molex Inc. (MOLX).

Semiconductor stocks ended up putting in a mixed performance. Gains came from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA). Decliners included Intel Corp. (INTC) and Micron Technology Inc. (MU).