Tech Stocks Stabilize For Dow Jones, Nasdaq

On Thursday, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq indices fell 4.3 and 5.1 percent, respectively, and are down more than 10 percent since July 21, the sharpest decline since October 2008. But on Friday, the market stabilized. In late afternoon trading, the Dow was up 114 points, or 1 percent, while the Nasdaq was down slightly -- 6.5 points, or 0.3 percent.

The return to normalcy was welcome news to investors after two consecutive days of sharp declines.

Among technology and channel companies, PC Connection was a big gainer. The Merrimack, N.H.-based solution provider's shares were up nearly 4 percent. Earlier on Friday, PC Connection reported record gross profit for its second fiscal quarter despite weaker-than-expected revenue.

"We are pleased by the continued improvement in our profitability and overall performance," said Patricia Gallup, PC Connection chairwoman and CEO, in a statement. "We believe we are driving the right balance of growth, profitability and strategic capital investments to position us well for future success."

Brian Alexander, managing director of technology research at Raymond James & Associates, wrote in a report on PC Connection: "We believe the company's focus on increasing its solutions capabilities are a key driver in the company's margin expansion, though we acknowledge public sector weakness was a tailwind this quarter."

Other companies that saw share gains on Friday afternoon were GTSI (up 1.6 percent), Juniper (up 1.7 percent), Netgear (up 3.7 percent) and Motorola Solutions (up 2.5 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, shares of Brocade plummeted 28 percent after the company lowered its third-quarter outlook for both revenue and earnings.

Meanwhile, David Powell, vice president of managed services at TekLinks, a Birmingham, Ala.-based VAR, was happy the market stabilized but added that he doesn't fret over it day to day.

"That's why you don't weigh yourself every day. You look for long-term trends," Powell said. "You might worry about something repeated over time but day-to-day fluctuations, we try to ignore those things."

Still, the recent market volatility shouldn't be taken lightly, he said. "We want to take appropriate measures to insulate ourselves from the daily [fluctuation] and make sure we're in alignment with our customers' long-term goals."