Thursday's Tech Winners & Losers

Garmin was sliding again, dragging tech stocks with it.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Nov 1, 2007 3:15 PM EDT

Garmin

shares continued to slide Thursday as a digital mapmaker warmed to its hostile takeover bid, helping drag on the tech sector.

Garmin shares were sinking 7%, as Merrill Lynch

downgraded the stock to sell on fears it would have to up its $3.3 billion bid for

Tele Atlas

. The Dutch digital mapmaker said its board had reviewed the GPS device maker's hostile, $3.3 billion bid and found it superior to Garmin rival

Tom Tom's

earlier offer, according to

MarketWatch

. Tele Atlas is giving Tom Tom five days to raise its offer before accepting Garmin's offer. Garmin shares, which lost nearly 11% Wednesday after the bid became public, were sinking another $7.52 to $99.88.

Electronic Arts

( ERTS) was losing 3.2% in advance of its third-quarter earnings report, expected after Thursday's closing bell. Shares were shedding $1.93 to $59.19.

Sirius Satellite Radio

(SIRI) - Get Report

and

XM Satellite Radio

( XMSR) both remained volatile ahead of separate, scheduled Nov. 13 shareholder votes on a proposed merger. Federal regulators are still reviewing the proposed deal. Sirius shares were losing 4.5% to $3.21, while XM shares were off 3.4% to $12.83.

Electronic Arts, Garmin, Sirius and XM are components of the Nasdaq 100, which was losing 16.88 points to 2222.10.

Smith Micro Software

(SMSI) - Get Report

was plummeting 28.4%, after the wireless communications software maker reported in-line third-quarter results. The company posted non-GAAP earnings of $6.7 million, or 21 cents a share, vs. $4.3 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue was up 38% to $20.4 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected 21 cents a share on revenue of $20.1 million. Shares were slipping $4.38 to $11.03.

On the positive side,

Plexus

(PLXS) - Get Report

was soaring 22.7% after the printed circuit board maker beat fiscal fourth-quarter estimates and guided above expectations for the first quarter. The company posted non-GAAP earnings of $25.6 million, or 55 cents a diluted share, vs. $25.5 million, or 54 cents a share a year ago. Revenue rose to $425.7 million from $396.9 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $435.1 million.

For the first quarter, Plexus sees revenue of between $440 million and $460 million and adjusted earnings of between 61 cents and 66 cents a share. Analysts were expecting a profit of 42 cents a share on revenue of $420.9 million. The stock jumped $5.85 to $31.65.

TTM Technologies

(TTMI) - Get Report

were adding 11.1% after the printed circuit-board maker posted a strong third-quarter profit and an in-line fourth-quarter outlook. The company reported a profit of $8.2 million, or 19 cents a share, on net sales of $163.1 million, vs. analysts' prediction of 17 cents a share on revenue of $164.7 million.

For the fourth quarter, the company sees revenue of $164 million to $172 million and earnings of 18 cents to 23 cents a diluted share. Analysts forecast earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $171.1 million. Shares were adding $1.42 to $14.25.