Facebook, EA, Zynga: Tech Premarket

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Facebook (FB) shares gained 1.6% to reach $32.35 in pre-market trading on Friday, continuing the social networker's recent rally.

With the dust slowly starting to settle on the company's underwhelming IPO last month, shares of the Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm have risen more than 12% in the last five days.

Facebook shares rose 0.76% on Thursday after Nomura initiated coverage of Facebook with a buy rating and a $40 price target. "We believe that Facebook's industry-leading reach, engaged user base, and comprehensive user dataset will enable the company to continue to grow and take share in the display market," explained Nomura analyst Brian Nowak, in a note.

Argus also initiated coverage of Facebook on Thursday, rating shares at hold.

The stock was one of the most active issues in the pre-market session with volume reaching 138,499.

Electronic Arts (EA), however, was a big loser before market open on Friday after Citi downgraded the video game specialist to neutral from buy. Citi cited weaker-than-anticipated revenue from the Star Wars online multiplayer game and disappointing traction in social/mobile, according to CNBC.

Shares of EA slipped 2.08% to $11.75 on Friday.

Zynga (ZNGA) was a big winner in pre-market trading, gaining 3.15% to reach $5.90. Shares of the key Facebook partner slipped 2.89% on Thursday.

Micron Technology (MU) shares, however, dipped 0.44% to $5.62 before market open. The semiconductor specialist's stock sank 7.76% on Thursday as investors responded to the company's third-quarter results earlier this week. The Boise, Idaho-based firm reported a worse-than-anticipated quarterly loss after market close on Wednesday amid declining margins in its NAND Flash products.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

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