SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks started February on an upbeat note Friday, with Dell Inc. among the advancers on reports that the PC giant may be on the verge of a deal to go private.
Netflix Inc. NFLX �also got a lot of attention due to its latest move to shake up the TV-viewing market.
Also contributing to investors� bullish sentiment, Labor Department data showed the U.S. economy added more jobs in 2012 than had been earlier estimated. See: U.S. adds 157,000 jobs as past data revised higher
Dell DELL �ended the day up by almost 3%, at $13.63 a share, after media reports said the PC company could announce as early as Monday that it has made a deal to go private. Chief Executive Michael Dell will reportedly own a majority stake in the company, with investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Microsoft Corp. MSFT �signing on as minority partners.
/quotes/zigman/27952/quotes/nls/dell DELL 13.63, +0.39, +2.95% /quotes/zigman/87598/quotes/nls/nflx NFLX 164.80, -0.44, -0.27%
However, Netflix NFLX �shares, which had be in positive territory, ended the day with a loss of 44 cents a share at $164.80. The video-streaming company debuted all 13 episodes of the new series �House of Cards� starring Kevin Spacey. Netflix is one of the producers of the show, among the first original series made solely for Netflix. See The Tell blog about how Netflix is using "House of Cards" to build a new model for watching TV.
Netflix also said the first episode of �House of Cards� will be available to non-subscribers for the next month.
Another big gainer was Audience Inc. ADNC , which rose more than 15%, to close at $14.10. Late Thursday, the audio-technology company said it expects to report first-quarter earnings of 15 cents to 16 cents a share, on revenue of $43 million to $46 million, well ahead of analysts� respective forecasts of a penny a share and $31.8 million.
PMC-Sierra Inc. PMCS �shares also surged, rising 13% to $6.53 after the electronics contract manufacturer reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the fourth quarter late Thursday.
NetSuite Inc. N �turned its back on its early gains and fell by 1.5%, to close at $69.14 a day after the cloud-based software company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN �shares slipped by 50 cents to close at $265. The online retailer announced a deal to be the exclusive online video-streaming source for the third season of the PBS series �Downton Abbey� beginning June 18, and will be the only site for any seasons of the show later this year.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �climbed almost 37 points, or 1.2%, to close at 3,179, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �rose almost 2% and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �gained 1.2%.
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