Monday's Tech Winners & Losers
Tech stocks posted modest gains in a shortened trading session ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Apple Inc. Report
rose 2.5% after reports of strong sales for the company this holiday season. Five of the top 10 electronics best-sellers on
Amazon.com
(AMZN) - Get Amazon.com Inc. Report
are Apple products, while Apple's MacBook hovers at the top of the site's best-selling computers list. Shares of Apple closed up $4.89 to $198.80. Shares of Amazon.com were down 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $91.01.
IT security authentication company
Vasco Data Security
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, surged 7.2%, or $1.90, to $28.27. The stock is now up nearly 33% over the last one month. Shares of Vasco, which makes security tokens that compete with RSA, a division of
EMC
(EMC)
, had tumbled nearly 34% in October after the company missed analysts' expectations for the third quarter. The stock had touched its 52-week high of $44.25 about a week before it reported its earnings.
Shares of video-game retailer
GameStop
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(GME) - Get GameStop Corporation Report
were up 3% as investors hoped the company will emerge a winner this holiday season. Video games have been one of the hottest retail sales categories this year and investors are betting that GameStop could profit from consumer demand. GameStop closed up $1.85 to $63.30.
Robotics firm
iRobot
(IRBT) - Get iRobot Corporation Report
was up after the company said Friday it has won a dispute against a smaller rival,
Robotic FX
, for patent infringement. iRobot had earlier lost an U.S. Army contract for robots to Robotic FX, a start up by a former iRobot employee. iRobot filed a lawsuit against Robotic FX and had included trade secret misappropriation among other charges. Shares of iRobot were up 36 cents, or 2%, to $18.19.
Open-source software maker
Red Hat
(RHT) - Get Red Hat, Inc. Report
gained 2.1%, as investors remained bullish on the company's prospects. Last week, Red Hat beat analysts' expectations for its
third quarter but said longtime company CEO Matthew Szulik will step down. Effective Jan. 1, James M. Whitehurst, former chief operating officer of
Delta Airlines
(DAL) - Get Delta Air Lines Inc. Report
will succeed Szulik as president and CEO. Shares of Red Hat were up 43 cents to $21.14.
Personal navigation devices maker
Garmin
(GRMN) - Get Garmin Ltd. (Switzerland) Report
was down 1.8% despite the strong showing by consumer electronics companies during holiday sales. Garmin's stock was off $1.63 to $100.87.
NetSuite
(N)
, which had been on a tear since its debut on the stock markets last Thursday, declined 39 cents, or 1%, to $38.75. The stock, which had been priced at $26, has gained 49% since its debut. NetSuite sells on-demand business software on a
subscription model similar to business software company
Salesforce.com
(CRM) - Get Salesforce Inc. Report
. Shares of Salesforce.com were up 23 cents, or 0.4%, to $63.98.
