Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) led the Nasdaq to a solid gain on Thursday, but Dell delivered mixed quarterly results after the close.
Dell’s pro forma earnings of 24 cents a share — factoring out a 9-cent restructuring charge — were a penny better than expected, but a 23% drop in sales to $12.34 billion left the company below $12.66 billion estimates.
Dell’s shares managed a small gain after hours on the news after rising 3.2% ahead of the report.
Palm led the tech sector higher during the day, rising 8.8% on news of a Pre deal with Verizon (NYSE: VZ).
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) gained 2.4% on news that it plans to spin off AOL, ending the eight-year-old merger.
TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO) fell 6% on its results, but Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) were both big winners, up 3.9% and 5.8%, respectively.
Netezza (NYSE: NZ) was down 16% on its results.
Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) fell 8% on a stock offering.
A well received Treasury auction helped market sentiment, and better than expected durable orders even had a bright spot for the tech sector, with the first uptick in monthly shipments since December, according to Stifel Nicolaus analyst Aaron Rakers.
The Nasdaq rose 20 to 1751, the S&P 500 gained 13 to 906, and the Dow rose 103 to 8403. Volume rose to 5.74 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.24 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 24-12 margin on the NYSE, and 15-12 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 75% on the NYSE, and 73% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 16-49 on the NYSE, and 31-16 on the Nasdaq.