Salesforce, software stocks weigh on techs

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of Salesforce.com fell sharply Friday, leading a tech sector retreat that also featured sharp declines in software stocks.

Salesforce (CRM)  shed 6% to close at $62.37, a day after the company reported a wider loss. The company's results were actually in line with expectations, but Wedbush analyst Steve Koenig said some investors may have anticipated "a big Q4 with lots of large deals and now they're taking profits."

Bloomberg Enlarge Image Salesforce shares dive on company's wider loss.

He also noted that the software is "down pretty substantially today, especially high growth names."

Shares of WorkDay Inc. (WDAY)  were down 5% to close at $109.92, while Splunk Inc. (SPLK)  shed 3% to close at $92.75.

"I think people seem to be getting edgy about valuations on the growth names, which have been on quite a run recently," Koenig told MarketWatch.

Meanwhile, JMP Securities analyst Pat Walravens speculated that the unrest in the Ukraine may also be a factor. "I think some faster money investors are paring their positions because of concerns about unrest in the Ukraine over the weekend," he told MarketWatch.

The tech sector also took from shares of Apple (AAPL) , which were down a fraction to close at $526.24 after the company's shareholder meeting .

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On the upside, shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY)  were up nearly 1% to close at $58.77 as the company's battle with billionaire investor Carl Icahn raged on.

Icahn on Friday fired off another letter to eBay shareholders, accusing the company's board of offering "repetitive evasive responses" to his allegations that its directors were guilty of corporate governance lapses.

Shares of 3-D Systems (DDD)  gained 1.7% to close at $75.96 after the 3-D printing firm released a slightly better-than-expected revenue outlook for 2014.

The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP)  gave up 0.3% to close at 4,308, but the benchmark ended the week up 1%.

The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH)   and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX)  were each down a fraction on Friday.

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