Despite Positive Earnings, Tech Sector Remains Shaky

SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite a strong earnings report from Ameritrade (AMTD) - Get Report and a solid showing from Apple (AAPL) - Get Report, traders continue to take profits in the tech sector, with Internet stocks among the hardest-hit groups.

Ameritrade's second-quarter earnings of 14 cents a share, reported Wednesday after the close, were double the six-analyst

First Call

consensus estimate and up from a penny loss a year ago. The stock was recently down 13 59/64, or 9.4%, at 134 5/64.

Noting strength in its

DLJdirect

online brokerage service,

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

(DLJ)

this morning topped a 70-cent First Call consensus by reporting first-quarter earnings of 84 cents a share. Though shares of DLJ had rallied before the company's report, they were down 5 1/4, or 5.7%, at 87 3/4 in early trading today.

Charles Schwab

(SCH)

posted first-quarter earnings of 34 cents a share this morning, beating the seven-analyst estimate of 33 cents and up from the year-ago 16 cents. But as with its broker brethren, Schwab's strong numbers couldn't prevent a dip in its stock, which fell 22 1/4, or 16.1%, to 116 lately.

E*Trade

(EGRP)

plunged 7 3/8, or 6.5%, to 105 1/2 amidst the overall weakness in the online broker field.

America Online

(AOL)

is seeing a second straight day of losses. Shares of AOL were down 10 7/8, or 7.2%, at 140 in early trading.

A day after the lukewarm first-quarter earnings

report from

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, chipmaker

Advanced Micro Devices

(AMD) - Get Report

came forward with its own first-quarter results Wednesday night. The company posted a loss of 81 cents a share, which was narrower than the 13-analyst estimate of a loss of 92 cents a share. (

TheStreet.com

took a look at AMD in a related

story Wednesday.) AMD was recently up 1 1/4, or 8.5%, at 16.

Apple was down slightly this morning after last night

logging second-quarter earnings of 60 cents a share, 3 cents higher than the 18-analyst First Call estimate and above the year-ago 38 cents. The stock slipped 27/32, or 2.4%, to 34 11/16 in trading so far today.

In a research note released earlier this morning,

Credit Suisse First Boston

analyst Michael Kwatinetz reiterated his buy rating on the stock, saying it has "the most attractive valuation in our space."

Looking ahead, a number of high-profile companies will be reporting earnings after the close, including

Excite

(XCIT)

,

Inktomi

(INKT)

and

Sun Microsystems

(SUNW) - Get Report

. All were trading lower early in the session in advance of those reports.