By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Technology stocks were mostly
higher Tuesday, with solid gains from shares of chipmakers Nvidia
Corp. and Marvell Technology.
Nvidia (NVDA) rallied 4.1% to close at $18.65 after JMP
Securities upgraded the stock to market outperform from market
perform.
Marvell (MRVL) climbed 3% to close at $16.20 on news that a
federal court has rejected Carnegie Mellon University's bid for an
injunction that would have prevented the semiconductor company from
selling chips that a jury said had infringed on the university's
patents.
Marvell will have to pay damages of about $1.54 billion, Marvell
said in a statement.
Analysts said the ruling was positive for Marvell. "We believe
the post-trial rulings are less damaging than feared," Nomura
analyst Sanjay Chaurasia told clients in a note.
FBR analyst Christopher Rolland said the "worst-case scenario of
treble damages" has been avoided.
While the total judgment against Nvidia "is not 'chump change,'
it removes the threat of treble damages and will likely not freeze
the company's buy-back and dividend programs," he told clients in a
note.
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 1.6% to close at 4,268.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) and the Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) were each up about 1.6%.
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