Today 4:32 PM ET (MarketWatch)
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks started the week on a strong note Monday, with Twitter Inc. and Pandora Media Inc. among the day's big gainers as both companies benefitted from upgrades by Wall Street analysts.
Twitter (TWTR) shares rose almost 6% to $33.94 after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Robert Peck raised his rating on the social-networking company to buy from neutral, with a price target of $45 a share. Peck called Twitter "one of the few platforms of the Internet" along with Google, Amazon, Facebook and LinkedIn, "that has a long runway in its core business."
Peck addressed recent concerns about Twitter's monthly average user growth slowing down and that it may never reach the size of Facebook. "Based on our calculations, we believe one can justify buying [Twitter] stock at these levels solely predicated on Twitter continuing to narrow the 50% monetization gap to Facebook, while still assuming user growth deceleration."
Pandora (P) shares rose 6% to $23.98 as MKM Partners raised its rating on the Internet radio company to buy from neutral.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares were up by 1%, at $591.49 as anticipation grew that it may soon announce a deal to buy high-end headphone maker Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Monday that the key for the deal may be Apple wanting to bring Beats executive Jimmy Iovine into Apple's executive ranks.
Other gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM), up 1.3% at $192.57 a share, Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), which rose 1.4% to $32.82 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), up by 3.6% to close at $302.86.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) rose more than 5% to $345.45 and Google (GOOG) was rose 2.2% to $538.43. A report in the New York Times on Sunday said Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler is set to revise proposed rules on regulating broadband Internet traffic delivery.
The broad tech gains helped boost the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) by almost 72 points, or 1.8%, to 4,143 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) closed with a gain of 1.8%.
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Alibaba nabs former Treasury office as corporate affairs director
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10 things American CEOs wont tell you
-Rex Crum; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 12, 2014 16:32 ET (20:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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