Google Sends Techs Higher

Shares of Google soared to a new all-time high Friday on third-quarter earnings and sales that crushed Wall Street estimates.

Tech stocks rode Google’s coattails to solid gains on the day, while blue chips stumbled on a dismal earnings report from Caterpillar .

Google soared 12.1% to $339.90, eclipsing the stock’s previous high of $321.28, on results that so exceeded analysts’ estimates that they fell all over each other Friday morning raising price targets. A dozen analysts raised their price targets on Google, with the upper target for the stock now at $450.

Google’s market value briefly eclipsed the $100 billion level before ending the day at $95 billion, nearly twice that of rival Yahoo’s $50 billion market capitalization and 10-20 times bigger than traditional media stocks such as Tribune Co. , as the online search king’s targeted advertising continues to gain converts.

But while Google remains the one sure bet on Wall Street, investors were reminded of the mixed state of quarterly reports when the second Dow stock in as many days imploded on dismal results and guidance. Shares of Caterpillar — expected to be a beneficiary of hurricane rebuilding efforts — lost 9.5% on the day, following Pfizer’s implosion Thursday.

The Nasdaq rose 14 to 2082, the S&P 500 added 2 to 1179, and the Dow fell 65 to 10,215 for a loss of nearly 200 points in two days. Volume declined to 2.45 billion shares on the NYSE, and 1.81 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 21-11 on the NYSE, and 18-11 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 59% on the NYSE, and 62% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 34-114 on the NYSE, and 60-83 on the Nasdaq.

Shares of Research In Motion lost 3.5% after the company lost a major patent ruling and will have to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to keep selling its BlackBerry devices in the U.S. The company finished off the lows on speculation that it will be forced to settle with NTP.

SanDisk soared 22% on its results.

Advent , Affiliated , Alltel , California Micro , Cohu , Cree and Mips posted strong gains on their earnings reports.

Genesis Micro , Harmonic Lightwave , Ixia , Mercury , Micro Linear and Packeteer were among the big losers on their reports.

Captiva soared 19% on a takeover offer from EMC .