SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology shares were mostly in positive territory Friday, propelled by rising shares of Seagate Technology, SanDisk Corp and Altera Corp.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 1.5% to close at 2,637. The benchmark ended the week down 1.1%.
Leading the rally were shares of Seagate (STX) which jumped 27.9% to close at $15.42 as analysts saw the hard-disk drive maker benefitting from the disruption in the operations of rival Western Digital (WDC) as a result of the flooding in Thailand.
"With competitor Western Digital's capacity severely impaired by the Thai floods and looking unlikely to recover until at least the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2012 ... we believe Seagate has the opportunity to decisively gain significant market share and materially improve gross margins in upcoming quarters," ThinkEquity analyst Rajesh Ghai said in a note.
Shares of SanDisk (SNDK) added 9.4% to close at $49.76 after the chip maker posted better-than-expected results.
"SanDisk continues to execute," Lazard Capital analyst Daniel Amir said in a note. "Results yesterday confirmed our positive thesis on SanDisk."
Also powering the rally were shares of Altera(ALTR) which traded up 12.2% to close at $37.05.
The chip company issued a softer-than-anticipated guidance, but Citigroup analyst Glen Yeung speculated that the company was being conservative as he advised clients to "buy the current pullback."
"Based on the plethora of opinions on earnings calls and off, we feel confident in asserting that the consensus opinion amongst companies is that somewhere in the November-February timeframe a bottom will be reached," Yeung wrote.
The view of a bottom for chips appeared to lift the rest of the semiconductor sector as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 2.3%.
Other major chip names saw their shares post gains, including Intel Corp.(INTC) , Advanced Micro Devices(AMD) and Texas Instruments (TXN).
Meanwhile, shares of Synaptics Inc (SYNA) , which develops touchscreen and touchpad systems, jumped 19.1% to close at $32.18.
Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu upgraded the stock's rating to buy from neutral saying "there is value in its portfolio of 260 patent assets in the touchscreen space that has become important in the patent wars."
On the other hand, shares of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) edged higher by 0.4% to close at $27.16. Late Thursday, the software giant reported higher earnings on strong corporate sales.
"While some might regard Microsoft 's results as only being in line with expectations, we see the results as a good showing in what we continue to view as a tenuous macro backdrop," J.P. Morgan analyst John DiFucci said in a note.
Shares of Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) slipped 3% to close at $11.79 after the company reported a loss.
BMO Capital downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform, saying "We believe Freescale will continue to have a difficult time delivering on its earnings per share growth story."
Also in the red were shares of Compuware Corp. (CPWR) which lost 3.3% to close at $8.56. The company lowered its full-year and fiscal third-quarter earnings outlook late Thursday.
Copyright © 2011 Dow Jones Newswires
