Thursday's Tech Winners & Losers

Shares of LSI Logic(LSI Quote) were among technology's winners Thursday, jumping 14% after the chip designer posted better-than-expected third-quarter results.

The company earned $43.6 million, or 11 cents a share, on revenue of $493 million. Excluding items, earnings were $64.6 million, or 16 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 12 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $489.6 million. During the year-earlier quarter, LSI recorded adjusted earnings of $45.1 million, or 11 cents a share, on revenue of $481.7 million.

Looking ahead, LSI forecast adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 15 cents to 18 cents a share, with revenue of $500 million to $525 million. Analysts project earnings of 15 cents a share and revenue of $515.8 million. Shares were trading up $1.34 to $9.69.

Linux provider Red Hat (RHAT Quote) tumbled 27% after computing giant Oracle (ORCL Quote) said it will offer full support for customers running the smaller company's version of the operating system. The move hurts Red Hat because the vendor derives much of its revenue from selling support and maintenance to corporate customers. Shares of Red Hat recently were down $5.17 to $14.34.

Symantec(SYMC Quote) fell 7% after the security-software company's second-quarter results came in slightly below Wall Street forecasts. For the period ended Sept. 29, the company earned $123.4 million, or 12 cents a share, on revenue of $1.26 billion. Excluding items, Symantec earned $258.7 million, or 26 cents a share, on revenue of $1.28 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 27 cents a share and revenue of $1.29 billion. During the year-earlier quarter, the company reported a loss of $251.3 million, or 21 cents a share, on revenue of $1.06 billion. Adjusted for items, year-ago earnings were $272.8 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $1.19 billion.

For the fiscal third quarter, Symantec sees adjusted earnings of 29 cents to 30 cents a share and revenue of $1.33 billion to $1.36 billion. Analysts project earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $1.35 billion. Shares were down $1.44 to $19.35.