Tech Stocks: Tech stocks stumble as Google leads losses

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Google Inc. led a decline across the tech sector Friday, with its shares slumping following mixed quarterly financial results and the Internet giant saying it would issue a new class of nonvoting stock.

Google GOOG �gave up $26.41 a share, or 4%, to close at $624.60, and posted its biggest one-day loss since falling more than $53 a share on Jan. 20. Late Thursday, Google reported a quarterly profit of $2.89 billion, or $8.75 a share, on revenue of $10.65 billion, up from $1.8 billion, or $5.51 a share, on $8.58 billion in the same period a year ago. Excluding one-time items, Google would have earned $10.08 a share for the latest quarter.

The results topped the consensus profit estimate of $9.64 a share compiled in a survey of analysts by FactSet Research.

/quotes/zigman/93888/quotes/nls/goog GOOG 669.22, -9.41, -1.39%

However, reaction the the results was muted as Google�s cost-per-clicks, or the prices paid for Google�s online advertising, fell 12% from a year ago.

Google also said it would issue a new class of nonvoting stock, which the company said was �effectively a two-for-one stock split.� Read more about Google's earnings report.

Much attention was also given to Google�s report, as it is expected to the be the last it will deliver before Facebook Inc. FB , one of its top rivals,�goes public in an IPO that could raise $5 billion for the social-media kingpin. Read Rex On Techs about Facebook as a Titanic of today's communications industry.

Along with Google, other declines came from Apple Inc. AAPL , down almost 3% to close at $605.23, as well as Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO , Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ and Intel Corp. INTC

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �fell 44 points to close at 3,011, and ended the week with a loss of 2.2%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �also ended the week with losses.

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Some gainers emerged, with Coinstar Inc. CSTR �rising $4.47 a share, or more than 7%, to close at $65.78.

Late Thursday, Coinstar raised its first-quarter and full-year revenue forecasts due to the popularity of its Redbox movie-rental business. Coinstar now expects to report revenue in a range of $567 million to $569.2 million for the quarter, up from an earlier estimate of $530 million to $555 million. The company also raised its full-year revenue estimate to a range of $2.16 billion to $2.28 billion, up from $2.08 billion to $2.25 billion.

Gains also came form Seagate Technology STX , AOL Inc. AOL �and Salesforce.com Inc. CRM .�