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

02/21/2013| 02:43pm 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 down 1% at $444.31 as hedge-fund giant David Einhorn kicked off his conference call on the company. Einhorn is waging a campaign to press the company to consider issuing a special preferred stock grant.

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 1.4% to stand at 3,121. The Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) gave up 1.6%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 2.4%.

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 4% to $27.27.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard (>> Hewlett-Packard Company) rebounded, and were up a fraction to $16.81 ahead of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's fiscal first-quarter report.

But shares of VeriFone (>> VeriFone Systems Inc) were in full retreat mode, plummeting 42% to $18.33 after the company drastically cut its estimates for its fiscal first quarter.

On the upside, shares of Google Inc. (>> Google Inc) were up a fraction at $792.56. 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 smartphones, tablets and the mobile Web is a large value creation opportunity for Google," Kirjner wrote.

Groupon (>> Groupon Inc) traded up 2% on a Piper Jaffray upgrade. Shares of Home Away (>> HomeAway, Inc.) also rallied more than 10% after the online home vacation and rental marketplace company posted upbeat results.

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