Techs Stage Knicks-Like Rally Into Positive Territory

The late action in the sector was enough to bring Spike Lee to his feet.

Author:: David Shabelman
Publish date:: May 17, 1999 5:25 PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO -- If you looked only at the final score, you'd probably say it was a pretty good day for the technology sector. But like the New York Knicks in their playoff victory against the Miami Heat on Sunday, tech stocks had to rally late to avoid a stinging defeat.

And, as with the Knicks, it was the

team

play that made the difference.

After disappointing analysts last spring,

Hewlett-Packard

(HWP)

earned $918 million, or 88 cents a share, in its third quarter, surpassing the

First Call

consensus of 80 cents a share.

Shares of H-P closed the day up 3 5/16, or 4%, at 87 1/2.

Both

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

and

Lycos

(LCOS)

report their quarterly results Tuesday.

Dell, which is expected to

post first-quarter earnings of 16 cents a share after the close tomorrow, finished up 2 1/16, or 5%, at 43 1/4. Lycos, which is expected to report a third-quarter loss of 3 cents a share, in line with Wall Street's consensus, closed up 1 3/8, or 1%, at 108 1/2.

America Online

(AOL)

closed up 10 3/4, or 9%, at 136 ahead of its meeting with analysts on Wednesday.

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

analyst Jamie Kiggen put a note out on the company this morning, urging investors to "buy AOL today." Kiggen said that recent weakness in Internet stocks matches the pattern seen a year ago, but he expects "tremendous seasonal strength" in the second half of the year to ignite the sector.

Amazon.com

(AMZN) - Get Report

recovered from an 11-point loss to close up 5 1/4, or 4%, at 137 5/8. The stock came under pressure after the company said it would be selling books from

The New York Times

bestseller list at a 50% discount, adding to fears about when the company will be profitable. The stock got a boost from

Credit Suisse First Boston

, which estimated that sales of the bestseller titles "account for no more than 2% to 3%" of Amazon's sales.

When is a 50% discount not enough?

Chicken Soup for the (blank)

Another John Grisham lawyer book

Another Anne Rice vampire tale

Monica's Story

Suzanne Somers' Get Skinny on Fabulous Food