Apple, AOL rise, but Google drags on tech stocks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks began the week mixed Monday, with Apple Inc. and AOL Inc. posting gains but Google Inc. suffering losses in the wake of chairman Eric Schmidt�s plan to sell a large piece of his company stockholdings.

Apple AAPL �shares added 1% to close at $479.93 following reports that the company may be developing a watch-like device that would run on the company�s iOS operating system, which is used on the iPhone and iPad. Analysts have also begun weighing in on the subject of whether Apple should return more of its cash to shareholders. See: Do investors want cash or a watch?

Getty Images Enlarge Image IPads on display at an Apple store in San Francisco.

AOL AOL �shares rose more than 7% to close at $36.23. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney raised his rating on the online media company�s stock to outperform from sector perform. Mahaney cited AOL�s fourth-quarter earnings report, in which year-over-year revenue rose for the first time in eight years, among the reasons for his upgrade. See: Apple�s cash hoard comes into focus again.

Online social-gaming company Zynga Inc. ZNGA �rose 7% to close at $3.67. Director Brett Ratner said he is working with a Canadian production company to produce a TV version of Zynga�s popular �Farmville� game title.

Dell Inc. DELL �rose 7 cents a share to close at $13.70. The PC giant looked to defend its plans to go private when, on Monday, it said in an SEC filing that the deal moves the risks of the business from shareholders to the investors leading the buyout, including Chief Executive Michael Dell.

Click to Play What might an Apple iWatch do?

Could an Apple iWatch get rid of the passcode? The rise of the �smart watch� is an opportunity to rethink technology. Photo: iWatch.

Dell put the statement out after Southeastern Asset Management, its biggest institutional shareholder, came out against the plans to take the company private. Read more about Dell's defense of its plans to go private.

Google GOOG �shares were trimmed by $2.35 to close at $782.42 after chairman Eric Schmidt said in a filing on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he is planning to sell as much as 3.2 million share of Google stock, representing about 42% of his holdings in the company. The sale would be worth $2.5 billion. See: Google�s Schmidt to sell nearly half his stake in company.

Netflix Inc. NFLX �fell 1.7% to close at $177.89 after the Starz STRZA �cable TV network reached a deal to be the exclusive pay-TV site for Sony Pictures SNE �movies through 2021. See: Netflix run-up stalled as Sony goes with Starz.

BlackBerry BBRY �shares fell 4.6% to close at $15.73 on reports that Home Depot HD �will replace 10,000 BlackBerry smartphones used by its store managers and corporate staff with Apple iPhones.

Other losses came from Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ , Facebook Inc. FB , Adobe Systems Inc. ADBE �and International Business Machines Corp. IBM .�

IBM The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �ended the day down by almost 2 points to close at 3,192, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �managed to eke out a small gain.