Tech Stocks in Motion

Updated from 12:28 p.m.

Shares of Catalyst Semiconductor(CATS) were among the worst-performing technology stocks Friday, falling 11.4% after the company posted second-quarter results that missed expectations by a wide margin.

The chipmaker posted a profit of $1 million, or 5 cents a share, on sales of $15.6 million. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting a profit of 11 cents a share on sales of $17.2 million. A year ago, the company posted earnings of $426,000, or 2 cents a share, on sales of $16 million. The company said that second-quarter results were hurt by weaker demand for its memory products and by pricing pressure. Catalyst said challenging market conditions could continue through the third quarter. Shares traded down 70 cents to $5.42.

Intel (INTC) rose 5.3% after the chipmaker raised its fourth-quarter sales outlook. The company now expects sales of $9.3 billion to $9.5 billion. Previously, it had forecast sales of $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion. Analysts had been expecting fourth-quarter sales of $8.97 billion. Intel's gross margins are expected to be between 55% and 57%, in line with the company's previous guidance of 56% "plus or minus a couple of points." Shares traded up $1.20 to $23.91.

Shares of Cogent Systems(COGT) rose 4.2% after the company received a five-year, $20 million contract from Raytheon(RTN). Cogent will act as a subcontractor on the US-Visit biometric identification system implementation. Specifically, it will provide project management services as well as software development and maintenance for its Automatic Fingerprint Identification Systems product. Cogent has been providing its AFIS product and services for the US-Visit program and its predecessor INS programs since 1994. Shares traded up $1.35 to $33.34.