TECH STOCKS: Techs Sink With Apple, Facebook; Google Up

02/21/2013| 10:44am US/Eastern

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By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks took another hit Thursday morning following a harsh selloff in the previous session, as large-cap players like Facebook, Oracle and Intel came under selling pressure.

Apple (>> Apple Inc.) was also down, slipping about 0.4% to $447.05 ahead of a planned conference call by hedge-fund giant David Einhorn, who is pressing the company to consider issuing a special preferred stock grant. Einhorn plans to host a conference call at 2 p.m. ET.

In an interview with AllThingsD, Einhorn said his proposal offers a "win-win" for both Apple and its shareholders. "We have a solution that allows shareholders to see that value and Apple to keep that cash," he added.

Apple's retreat set the tone for a downbeat trading session, which saw the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) give up 0.6% to stand at 3,147. The Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) both fell more than 1% in early trades.

The tech sector retreat followed Wednesday's broader market selloff sparked by investor concern over the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting minutes that revealed differences over monetary policy.

Among large-cap tech names, Oracle (>> Oracle Corporation) , SAP (>> SAP AG) , Intel (>> Intel Corporation) , Cisco (>> Cisco Systems, Inc.) and Microsoft (>> Microsoft Corporation) were all trading down more than 1%. Facebook (>> Facebook Inc) was off more than 3% to $27.58.

Also in the red were shares of Hewlett-Packard (>> Hewlett-Packard Company) which were down a fraction at $16.64 ahead of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's fiscal first-quarter report.

Shares of VeriFone (>> VeriFone Systems Inc) were also in full retreat mode, plummeting 38% to $19.80 after the company drastically cut its estimates for its fiscal first quarter.

On the upside, shares of Google Inc. (>> Google Inc) were up more than 0.8% at $801.59. The Internet powerhouse's stock hit an all-high recently, rising above $800 for the first time in its history.

And the stock will probably go higher, Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner argues in a note raising the price target to $1,000. "We believe mass adoption of smart phones, tablets and the mobile Web is a large value creation opportunity for Google," Kirjner wrote.

Groupon (>> Groupon Inc) also traded up 6% on a Piper Jaffray upgrade. Shares of Home Away (>> HomeAway, Inc.) also rallied more than 13% after the online home vacation and rental marketplace company posted upbeat results.

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