Tech Earnings Remain in Focus

Corning , CA and Sun were the latest tech bellwethers to run afoul of Wall Street’s expectations late Tuesday.

Corning reported results and guidance that were largely in line with analysts’ estimates, but with revenues just under expectations and analysts worried about flat panel display pricing and telecom sales, Corning’s stock sank 7% after hours. Sales rose 17% in the quarter to $1.2 billion, just under $1.21 billion estimates.

CA met estimates on a 5.5% increase in sales to $967 million, but said its March quarter earnings and sales will come in just under estimates. That was good for a 3% loss after hours.

Sun’s stock managed to tick up a few pennies despite missing estimates with a 3-cent loss on $3.34 billion in revenues, up 17% from the year-ago quarter. The company burned through $191 million in the quarter and has $4.3 billion in cash.

Stocks posted gains Tuesday despite disappointing results from Texas Instruments , McAfee and Johnson & Johnson , as investors cheered results from EMC and United Technologies .

The Nasdaq rose 16 to 2265, the S&P 500 climbed 3 to 1266, and the Dow rose 23 to 10,712. Volume rose to 2.57 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.12 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers led 22-10 on the NYSE, and 20-10 on the Nasdaq. Upside volume was 64% on the NYSE, and 61% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 249-36 on the NYSE, and 189-34 on the Nasdaq.

Lexmark rose 11% after beating estimates.

Ariba and Vitesse jumped on their results.

InterDigital soared 34% on a deal with LG Electronics.

Adtran , Avaya and CDW fell on their results.

August Tech shed 7% after KLA-Tencor withdrew its buyout offer, setting up a merger with Rudolph Tech .