Tech Shares Down Amid Fears About Earnings Peak - Tech Roundup

Shares of tech companies fell amid fears that the sector's strongest growth rate for the current cycle was behind it after a strong earnings season. Roku shares surged after the maker of streaming-media devices and software posted quarterly sales that topped Wall Street targets. Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices saw shares retreat after bigger rival Intel would hire a former AMD executive for its own graphics chips operations. Shares of another big graphics chip maker, Nvidia, which reports earnings after the bell, also saw shares decline. The stellar performance of large-cap technology companies may continue in the short term but regulatory risk is rising, warned one money manager. "Big tech regulation is inevitable -- but not imminent," said Tim Shirata, executive vice president at money manager Guild Investment Management, in a note to clients. "2017 has been a year of very strong performance for the dominant U.S. tech companies. It has also been a year when public and political sentiment around these firms shifted palpably...Like the beneficiaries of every previous technological revolution, today's tech leaders will be tamed -- and much of their luxuriant profit growth siphoned off from shareholders to the public purse." One brokerage said electric car maker Tesla can overcome recent wobbles to forge a brand comparable to that of computer giant Apple. "Apple succeeded because the world shifted from PCs to smartphones and Apple had the best product," said analysts at brokerage Nomura Securities, in a research note. "Similarly, we believe there is a secular shift today from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles and we think Tesla has the best product."

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2017 16:41 ET (21:41 GMT)