Tech Stocks in Motion

eBay rises on an upgrade.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Dec 28, 2005 2:23 PM EST

Check Point

fell after an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. cut his investment rating to neutral from buy, saying the software maker is having trouble finding traction for its new products. Analyst William Becklean said he expects strong end-year renewals for Check Point's core products, but noted that customers have been slow to adopt newer offerings, some of which have been on the market for almost a year. Check Point shares, which are already down 15% this year, lost another 3% to $20.39.

Shares of

Covad

(DVW)

ignited Wednesday after the company reached a deal to settle all pending litigation with

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

. The companies have been embroiled in litigation for the better part of a decade as disputes arose over their competing efforts to offer high-speed access over shared telephone lines. Simultaneous with the settlement, Covad cut an expanded line-sharing agreement with Verizon and a separate deal with Verizon merger partner

MCI

(MCIP)

. In recent trading, Covad was up 45% to 97 cents.

Onyx Software

(ONXS)

rose after

CDC

(CHINA)

said it's mulling a bid for the business-application supplier. Under the proposed transaction, Onyx would remain publicly traded, but would become majority-owned by CDC, which would contribute its own software assets and up to $50 million for the stake. CDC, which used to be called Chinadotcom, says it has been unable to meet with Onyx to discuss the transaction. After rising as much as 14% earlier, Onyx shares last traded for $3.85, up 2.3%.

eBay

(EBAY) - Get Report

rose on a bullish analyst note. Credit Suisse First Boston raised its fourth-quarter revenue estimate on the online auctioneer to $1.32 billion from $1.27 billion, and nudged up its earnings estimate to 23 cents a share. CSFB sees 39% growth in eBay's listings in the quarter compared with a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call are forecasting earnings of 2 cents a share on sales of $1.29 billion for the quarter, which ends this month. In recent trading, eBay shares were up 1.3% to $44.32.

Other tech stocks seeing price action Wednesday include

Energy Conversion Devices

(ENER)

, up 13.4%;

Under Armour

(UARM)

, up 8.5%;

SunPower

(SPWR) - Get Report

, up 8%;

Overstock.com

(OSTK) - Get Report