RIM Beats the Street as Micron Misses

Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) shares soared in after-hours trading Thursday after the company’s quarterly results dazzled Wall Street, but Micron (NYSE: MU) didn’t fare nearly as well, slumping on its earnings report.

RIM shares were up 19% after hours on top of a 7.6% gain during the day after the company reported an 84% jump in quarterly sales to $3.46 billion, and the company’s earnings and current quarter outlook beat forecasts too.

But Micron shares slipped in late trading after gaining 10% during the day. The company reported a bigger than expected loss and sales decline in a tough memory pricing environment.

The biggest news during the day was a Wall Street Journal report that Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) is willing to take a lower takeover bid of between $9 and $10 a share from IBM (NYSE: IBM) in exchange for a firm commitment to persevere through antitrust issues. Sun shares edged higher on the news.

The rest of the market soared on better than expected factory orders, news that China’s manufacturing sector is growing again, a European rate cut, the easing of “mark-to-market” accounting rules that have dogged financial companies, and a pledge from G-20 nations to shore up the International Monetary Fund. Friday’s big news will be the U.S. government’s monthly jobs report, which is expected to show a loss of about 660,000 jobs.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) were left out of the rally on profit-taking, but strong tech names included Juniper (NASDAQ: JNPR), Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT).

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) gained 4.5% on a healthcare deal with GE (NYSE: GE).

Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU) spinoff Changyou.com (NASDAQ: CYOU) soared 34% in its IPO.

The Nasdaq rose 51 to 1602, the S&P 500 climbed 23 to 834, and the Dow gained 216 to 7978. Volume rose to 8.85 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.86 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led by a 32-5 margin on the NYSE, and 22-6 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 91% on the NYSE, and 87% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 15-68 on the NYSE, and 22-31 on the Nasdaq.