RIM, Juniper, eBay, Microsoft: Tech Premarket

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Research In Motion (RIMM) was a premarket winner on Friday, rising more than 3% following a media report that it could be a potential target for Lenovo.

Speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum earlier this week, Lenovo's chief financial officer, Wong Wai Ming, told Bloomberg that the No.1 PC maker is examining potential M&A targets and alliances. "We are looking at all opportunities -- RIM and many others," he said, according to the report.

Shares of RIM rose 3.72% to $18.40 before market open.

RIM will unveil its BlackBerry 10 technology on Jan. 30. The Canadian firm was also the most active premarket Nasdaq stocks on share volume of 644,384.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) was another climber, gaining 1.67% to $21.86. The networking specialist beat Wall Street's top- and bottom-line estimates in its preliminary fourth-quarter results, released after market close on Thursday.

eBay (EBAY) was also a premarket winner, up 1.52% to reach $56.03, boosted by positive analyst sentiment. Bernstein Research upgraded the online auction site Friday to outperform, citing sustainable growth and upside from new initiatives.

Facebook (FB) shares rose 0.61% to $31.27 in premarket trading, while Apple (AAPL) gained 0.45% to reach $452.54. Sirius XM (SIRI) was another modest gainer, rising 0.32% to $3.10.

Microsoft (MSFT) shares slipped 0.83% to $27.40 following the software giant's mixed second-quarter results, released late on Thursday.

On a GAAP basis, Microsoft earned 76 cents a share, and generated $21.46 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of 75 cents a share and $21.5 billion in revenue.

The results were boosted by strength in Microsoft's Server & Tools division and healthy demand for Windows 8 licenses.

Revenue from the company's Windows Division jumped 24% year over year to $5.88 billion, helped by Windows 8. The Redmond, Wash.-based firm has sold over 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date. Microsoft's Server & Tools revenue climbed 9% year-over-year to reach $5.19 billion, while Online Services jumped 11% to $869 million, led by a 15% climb in online advertising revenue.

"Our big, bold ambition to re-imagine Windows as well as launch Surface and Windows Phone 8 has sparked growing enthusiasm with our customers and unprecedented opportunity and creativity with our partners and developers," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in a statement. "With new Windows devices, including Surface Pro, and the new Office on the horizon, we'll continue to drive excitement for the Windows ecosystem and deliver our software through devices and services people love and businesses need."

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].