By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Gains from JDS Uniphase and Pandora
Media Inc. stood out among tech stocks Thursday as much of the
sector managed to turn around from losses earlier in the day.
JDSU (JDSUD) climbed more than 10% to close at $13.36 a share a
day after the networking company said Wednesday that it will split
into two publicly traded companies. One company would focus on
JDSU's core networking hardware business, while the other would
take over software-defined networking technologies. The split is
scheduled to be completed by the third quarter of 2015.
Following the announcement, RBC analyst Mark Sue raised his
rating on JDSU to outperform, or buy, from sector perform, and
lifted his price target on the company's stock to $18 a share from
$11. Sue called JDSU's move "a significant new start for an
industry defined by high innovation."
Pandora (P) rose more than 3%, to close at $26.94 a share after
the online radio company said it reached a new U.S. licensing deal
with music-rights manager BMG. The agreement covers all the BMI and
Ascap music catalogs managed under BMG.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares managed to add 43 cents to close at
$101.43 as investors and analysts continued to assess the
implications of the company's new iPhones, Apple Watch and Apple
Pay mobile-payment technology.
Gains also came from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO),
Facebook Inc. (FB) and IBM Corp. (IBM).
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 5 points to
close at 4,591 and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) ended
the day with a small gain.
(Read more about the day's market action in Movers & Shakers
http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid.)
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