TECH STOCKS: Apple, Microsoft, Facebook Boost Tech Stocks

By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks picked up more gains by midday of Wednesday's abbreviated trading session, boosted by a broad-market uptick and gains at several large-cap players such as Apple, Microsoft and Facebook.

The Dow jumped more than 80 points ahead of July 4 break. The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 0.6% to 3,454 while the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) was up 0.7% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) picked up 0.8%.

Apple (AAPL) , Microsoft (MSFT) , Facebook (FB) , IBM (IBM) Cisco (CSCO) and Oracle (ORCL) were all trading up more than 1% by midday.

ARM Holdings PLC (ARMHY) , which designs chip products for use in mobile devices, was up more than 3.7% to $37.77 after UBS upgraded the stock to a buy rating. Analyst Gareth Jenkins noted that the stock has slid about 30% from its peak in late-May on concerns about chip giant Intel (INTC) gaining more traction in the mobile market.

"We do not see anything having fundamentally changed in the ARM investment case," he wrote in a report, adding that he already had modeled for Intel "winning market share in key markets and assume ARM achieves little success" in the PC and server markets.

"Moreover, several positives remain including ARM's ability to penetrate new areas (networking, microcontrollers) and to benefit from low end smart-phone adoption, which we see as likely to be driven by the ARM partners rather than Intel," he wrote.

Qualcomm (QCOM) , a key ARM partner, was trading up 0.6% to $61.32.

Leap Wireless (LEAP) jumped more than 5.8% to $7.08 after scoring an upgrade to neutral from Macquarie Capital. Analyst Kevin Smithen cited "increased likelihood for a takeout" by either T-Mobile (TMUS) or Dish Network (DISH) as part of the reason for his move.

Groupon (GRPN) shares rose 3% to $9.23 -- extending a run that has added 23% to the daily deal provider's market value over the past two weeks.

BlackBerry (RIMM) shares lost 1.3% to $9.57 -- continuing a downward run since the company reported disappointing quarterly results last Friday. The stock has shed 34% of its value since that report.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires