Wednesday's Late Winners & Losers

Stocks traded higher after the close Wednesday in a torrent of positive earnings from tech stocks, and leading the charge was Apple (AAPL Quote).

The Cupertino, Calif., computer giant saw very active trading after first-quarter income, at 87 cents a share, vaulted by 40 cents year over year and crushed the Street's 64-cent per-share consensus, per Thomson Financial. Apple's surging revenue was also better than expected. Shares were adding $6.15, or 6.5%, to $101.50.

Seattle-based Internet-software developer F5 Networks (FFIV Quote) leapt 16.1% to $76.73, also in heavy trading, after per-share income came in 2 cents higher than Wall Street expectations. Electronics maker Plexus (PLXS Quote) posted a fiscal second-quarter profit of 23 cents a share, which was 6 cents past estimates; and semiconductor Skyworks Solutions (SWKS Quote) squared with analysts' targets. Wisconsin-based Plexus was rising 7.8% to $20.49; Skyworks, of Woburn, Mass., lately gained 6.8% to $6.58.

Xilinx (XLNX Quote) rose 5.2% to $30.73 after first-quarter profits came to 27 cents a share, topping first-quarter analyst calls by 4 cents, and fellow California-based semiconductor PMC-Sierra (PMCS Quote) likewise released a better-than-expected bottom line. Its shares were up 4.3% at $7.70.

Another big winner Wednesday night was weight-management company NutriSystem (NTRI Quote), which jumped 13% to $65.80 after sprinting past first-quarter estimates with income of $37.9 million, or $1.04 a share, that soared 73.3% from a year ago. Analysts sought 91 cents a share. Revenue, at $238.4 million, climbed 62.4% from last year and handily beat estimates. Herbalife (HLF Quote), which is also in the weight management business, climbed 2.4% to $41.26 after sharply raising its first-quarter earnings estimate to between 60 cents and 61 cents a share. Wall Street is seeking 56 cents.