By Rex Crum

Technology stocks began to show some life in afternoon trade Wednesday as the sector turned its back on a decline that had been led by initial negative reaction to Hewlett-Packard Co. reporting a drop in its quarterly earnings.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose almost 12 points to 1,967, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) both crept into positive territory.

Gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM), Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), Intel Corp. (INTC), Apple Inc. (AAPL), EMC Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO).

Storage-technology company NetApp Inc. rose 19 cents a share to $23.05. Analysts at Bank of America and Avian Securities raised their ratings on NetApp's stock ahead of the company's quarterly results, due after the market close.

Even H-P (HPQ), shares of which fell more than 2% in early trade, crawled closer to positive territory. H-P trimmed its losses to remain down by 14 cents at $43.83 after the company said late Monday that its fiscal third-quarter earnings declined by 19% from the same period a year ago.

However, H-P's results still topped the estimates of Wall Street analysts, many of whom said the company's profit margins remain strong, and were impressed by H-P's fourth-quarter earnings outlook, which exceeded analysts' consensus forecasts.