Friday’s big movers; Sears sinks on weak sales

Activision Blizzard up on strong ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops II’ sales

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By Sue Chang, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shares of Facebook Inc., Best Buy Co., and Sears Holdings Corp. made big moves during U.S. trading Friday, while Apple Inc. and Activision Blizzard Inc. were among top trending tickers.

Top tickers trending

$AAPL: Apple AAPL +0.39% shares closed 0.4% higher after seesawing between positive and negative territories all day. For the week, the stock is down by 3.5%.

The stakes are now higher in its patent dispute with Samsung Electronics Co.KR:005930 +1.07%  after a U.S. judge on Thursday granted the two companies permission to add new products to their lawsuits, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“According to court documents, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal accepted Samsung’s revised petition to amend its infringement contentions to include Apple’s latest smartphone, which is seeing strong demand from consumers globally. The judge also accepted Apple’s motion to amend its lawsuit to include the Galaxy Note 10.1, the U.S. version of Samsung’s popular smartphone, the Galaxy S III, and the ‘Jelly Bean’ operating system in the Galaxy Nexus handset,” according to the Journal. Stakes just got higher in Samsung vs Apple

@1nvestor: changing $AAPL pie recipe to green apples now. lol

@InvestorsLive: Millionaires made today on $AAPL…craziness

@Kenshreve: When $AAPL first started to fall, it was about profit-taking. Now, it’s the market pricing in slower growth ahead.

@CondorRob: $AAPL every time I leave my computer appl gets punished more. I just took a shower and I am so messed up today I used cat shampoo!!

$ATVI: Activision Blizzard ATVI +4.65% shares rose 4.7%. “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” the latest installment in the “Call of Duty” franchise, recorded more than $500 million in sales in the first 24 hours of its release.

“With first day sales of over half a billion dollars world-wide, we believe “Call of Duty” is the biggest entertainment launch of the year for the fourth year in a row,” said Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard in a statement. Still, the company’s chest-pounding was tempered by the following statement: “Given the challenged macroeconomic environment, we remain cautious about the balance of 2012 and 2013.”

$YUM: Yum Brands Inc. YUM +1.10% shares added 1.1%. The company’s board on Friday approved a new stock buyback program of up to $1 billion and declared a dividend of 33.5 cents a share.

$LNKD: LinkedIn LNKD +2.46% shares strengthened 2.5%. Soros Fund Management LLC, run by billionaire investor George Soros, added 1.2 million shares of LinkedIn, valued at $141.5 million. Soros adds to his LinkedIn stake

Gainers

Shares of Facebook FB +6.27% climbed 6.3%. On Thursday, the social media company announced it is adding more retail partners to its Facebook Gifts including babyGap, Brookstone, L’Occitane, Lindt and Random House.

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Home Loan Servicing Solutions Ltd.HLSS +7.58% shares climbed 7.6%. The firm reported financial results late Thursday and at the same time raised its earnings outlook.

OSI Systems Inc. OSIS +16.49% shares advanced 17%. Oppenheimer analysts raised the shares to a buy rating on Friday morning.

Penn National Gaming PENN +28.24%shares soared 28% on the company’s plan to split its businesses into two publicly traded companies, a gaming-focused real estate investment trust and a gaming operator.

Decliners

Best Buy BBY -9.84% shares retreated 9.8%. The retailer is attempting to revive slumping sales in an increasingly competitive environment. Can Best Buy’s ‘Renew Blue’ plan save the electronics’ retailer

Dell DELL -7.33% shares slid 7.3% after the computer company said PC sales plunged in the third quarter. Dell said its quarterly profit fell to $475 million, or 27 cents a share, from $893 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier. Adjusted earnings came in at 39 cents a share. Revenue fell nearly 11% to $13.7 billion. Dell’s quarterly profit shrinks on weak PC sales

Sears SHLD -18.79%  sank 19%. The department store late Thursday reported its third-quarter loss widened to $498 million, or $4.70 a share, from a loss of $421 million, or $3.95 a share, in the same quarter a year ago. The company has tried to boost foot traffic with more appealing stores and a loyalty program but the efforts have failed to draw in more customers.  Sears’ quarterly loss widens as same-store sales slip

Greg Morcroft contributed to this report.