By Benjamin Pimentel
Technology stocks traded flat Thursday morning, as shares of
Cisco Systems declined sharply after the technology giant reported
a disappointing outlook.
Cisco (CSCO) was down more than 3% at the opening bell, a day
after the networking gear giant reported a 63% surge in profit and
won rave reviews for a strong quarter, but also issued a forecast
that analysts considered cautious and unimpressive.
"We viewed the guidance as disappointing relative to our
expectations as it implies year-over-year organic revenue
deceleration," Auriga analyst Tony Carbone said in a note.
Cisco's decline weighed on the rest of the sector, as the Nasdaq
Composite Index (RIXF) to stay in the green. The tech benchmark was
down a fraction to 2,424 at last check.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) were each down a fraction.
Among the decliners were Cisco rival, Juniper Networks (JNPR),
Texas Instruments (TXN) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL).
Meanwhile, shares of Sybase Inc. (SY) jumped more than 14% on
news of a merger agreement with SAP AG.
Also posting gains were Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA).