SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks closed out the week with strong gains on Friday, with Amazon.com Inc. one of the standout advancers, but Facebook Inc.�s shares bucked the positive trend to fall sharply in the wake of its earnings report.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �rose almost 65 points, or 2.2%, to close at 2,958. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �each rose more than 2%.
Amazon AMZN �climbed by $17.31 a share, or almost 8%, to close at $237.32 after the company�s second-quarter earnings report late Thursday.
Amazon�s earnings fell compared to the same period last year, as the company increased spending on building up order-fulfillment centers. However, North American sales rose and gross margin came in at 26%, its highest level in seven years. Read more about Amazon's quarterly results.
�The Amazon story boils down to e-commerce demand,� said Needham & Co. analyst Kerry Rice. �[And] investors appear to shrug off continued high levels of investment, which weighs on profitability.� Read Rex On Techs about how Amazon deflects fears about its operating losses.
/quotes/zigman/63011/quotes/nls/amzn AMZN 237.32, +17.31, +7.87% /quotes/zigman/9962609/quotes/nls/fb FB 23.71, -3.14, -11.70%
Facebook, FB �however, was getting no love from investors who were roundly disappointed with the social-media leader�s late-Thursday earnings report.
Facebook�s shares cut their losses, but still fell by $3.14, or more than 11%, to close at $23.70 after the company reported second-quarter results that met expectations. The company gave no third-quarter forecast and said its operating expenses would �increase significantly� through the rest of the year. Read more about Facebook's quarterly report.
Among other tech stocks, online travel site Expedia Inc. EXPE � shares rose $9.19, or more than 20%, to close at $54.90 following the company�s second-quarter results. Expedia�s earnings beat Wall Street analysts� forecasts, led by growth in the company�s hotel-booking business. Read more about Expedia and its effects on the online-travel sector.
Click to Play Facebook's slow dance with marketsA look at Facebook's earnings report and the social network's ad prospects.
Gains also came from Salesforce.com Inc. CRM , Dell Inc. DELL , Priceline.com Inc. PCLN �and IBM Corp. IBM .
In addition to Facebook, another big decliner was Coinstar Inc. CSTR , the operator of the Redbox line of DVD-rental kiosks.
Coinstar shares fell $8.06, or more than 13%, to close at $51.16. The company late Thursday reported that second-quarter profit rose 38% from a year ago, but it also gave a weaker-than-expected forecast for the rest of the year, due to the expense of replacing kiosks recently acquired from NCR Corp.
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