TECH STOCKS: SanDisk Gains Lead Late Tech-sector Rise

By Rex Crum

Many leading technology stocks advanced in afternoon trading Friday as SanDisk Corp. gains and from Palm Inc. losses continued to highlight the sector's action.

SanDisk (SNDK) shares climbed as much as 5%, to $22.50, shortly after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Simon Dong-je Woo raised his rating on the flash-memory developer to buy from underperform. Woo said the company appears poised for earnings and revenue growth due to changes in the market for memory products.

In addition to SanDisk, gains also came from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), IBM Corp. (IBM), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) shook off early losses to rise 11 points to 2,137, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) also edged upward. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) climbed almost 2%.

Palm (PALM) led the decliners, falling 51 cents a share, or 3.6%, to $13.91.

Late Thursday, Palm reported a first-quarter loss that grew from the year-ago period, but its sales turned out to be better than expected. Much of the revenue improvement was said to be based on strong sales of the new Pre smartphone, which is sold exclusively through Sprint.

However, Palm offered a second-quarter sales outlook that failed to meet Wall Street analysts' forecasts. Company officials also said they were working on new devices for other wireless carriers.

Declines also came from Dell Inc. (DELL), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Yahoo Inc. (YHOO).