Tech Winners & Losers: Qwest

Tech stocks gained ground on Wednesday, recovering from a morning slide after the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate target by 50 basis points to 1%.

The Nasdaq edged up 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1653 in recent trading.

Shares of Qwest(Q Quote) tumbled 7.5% to $2.41 after offering a disappointing forecast for the rest of the year.

The company reported third-quarter earnings Wednesday morning, posting a 93% drop in profit from a year ago. It attributed a large part of the decline to a reversal of the valuation allowance against deferred tax assets in 2007. It now expects full-year results to come in at the low end of its guidance.

Garmin(GRMN Quote) shares were up 2.9% to $22.05 after beating third-quarter estimates . But the company also lowered guidance for full-year profit and revenue, falling short of Wall Street expectations.

The Cayman Islands-based digital navigation device maker chopped its profit guidance to $3.78 a share from $3.86 a share, which excludes a gain related to the tender of Tele Atlas shares. It also cuts its revenue target to $3.6 billion, from the previous forecast of $3.9 billion. Analysts had expected Garmin to post a full-year profit of $3.89 a share on revenue of $3.8 billion.

Shares of Corning(GLW Quote) slipped 7.4% to $10.57 after missing third-quarter revenue targets and warning that sales would fall short in the fourth quarter.

Corning expects non-GAAP fourth-quarter earnings in a range of 20 cents to 28 cents a share on sales between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion. That was below Wall Street's expected earnings of 42 cents a share on revenue of $1.54 billion.