The Night Watch: Novellus Slips After Meeting Estimates

Technology stocks dominated the after-hours charts following a mostly quiet regular session.

On Instinet, about 3.1 million shares changed hands within the first 30 minutes after the closing bell. The top 20 volume movers accounted from less than 1 million of those shares.

Novellus Systems , a maker of chip equipment, said Monday afternoon that it earned $35.2 million, or 24 cents a share, in the third quarter, before one-time items. That number matched the consensus estimate. In the year-ago period, the company earned $43 million, or 29 cents a share. Novellus attributed the shortfall to slowing demand for electronics products. Shares of Novellus ticked down 0.2% to $31.58 on Instinet. The issue was the leader in volume on Island ECN.

Applied Materials , another semiconductor capital equipment producer, was off 0.7% to $33.40. KLA-Tencor , a third chip equipment maker, was off 0.2% to $36.55. Before the opening bell, Lehman Brothers lowered its rating on a group of semiconductor equipment makers.

The Nasdaq 100 Tracking Stock was the top volume mover on Instinet and was up 0.1% to $34.44. Cisco followed, but remained unchanged at $16.21. Intel was off 0.7% to $24.20, and Sun Microsystems was flat at $9.68. Oracle gained 0.3%, while Ciena slipped 0.4%.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (4:50 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Novellus Systems	30.99	N/A	216,944
Nasdaq 100 Tracking Stock	34.40	0.00	191,146
Cepheid	8.35	+0.29	98,627
Intel	24.15	-0.23	87,498
Applied Materials	33.01	-0.63	75,790
Applied Digital Solutions	0.26	-0.01	47,168
Cisco	16.19	-0.02	37,495
Sun Microsystems	9.67	-0.01	33,083
Verado Holdings	0.15	+0.03	30,799
Palm	2.50	-0.04	28,421

Island ECN offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Confused? TheStreet.com explains how the rules change when the sun goes down in Investing Basics: Night Owl, a section devoted to after-hours trading.