After-hours traders punished Dell (DELL) stock Thursday, following a weak third quarter earnings report from the technology giant.

Going into the afternoon earnings release, analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of 28 cents per share. Actual earnings came in much lower at 23 cents per share.

In terms of estimates, 3Com did well. The market was expecting 5 cents per share. The analyst community was obviously worried that the recession was going to hamper profit growth more than it did. Of course, who could blame the analysts, right? After all, 3Com did see a better than 8% slide in top-line sales.

Online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is looking to extend the reach of its Kindle -- a wireless reading device -- into the hands of consumers, and hopes that cutting the price will speed adoption in a price-sensitive world. Formerly priced at $359, the Kindle will now be sold for $299, though the more advanced Kindle DX will still maintain its $489 price tag.

Amazon, known mainly for selling books online before branching out into other areas, has made the Kindle a focal point of creating new growth for the site. The company has been offering generous 10% payouts via its affiliate program for creating sales, compared to the typical 4% paid on other items. A June 30 research report from Cowen & Co. obtained by DailyFinance estimated that 800,000 Kindle units had been sold so far; the company estimates that more than 2.6 million will be sold by the end of 2010.

Tech giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), long shunned by investors who sought out more aggressive growth opportunities, is gaining support from a number of observers who believe the shares are not only relatively safe, but a bargain at current levels.

As was noted in yesterday's Analyst Action Round-up, Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "Conviction Buy," with analyst Sarah Friar raising her price target to $29 on expectations that the company's next set of offerings will be innovative and well-received winners. Friar also believes that search is back in play, with Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) near monopoly there threatened by a surprisingly successful Bing.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) had a weak Q2. According to the earnings release that was issued on Tuesday after the close of trading, revenues declined 3% on an adjusted basis.

If you strip out currency effects, then you get a gain of 3% on the top line. Either way, I'm not excited. And here's something else that wasn't so thrilling. Earnings per share on an adjusted basis came in at 86 cents. Last year at this time, Hewlett-Packard generated 87 cents per share. Not a great comparison.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) reported Q2 numbers earlier in the week. They were dismal, to say the least. According to Jon Ogg's Closing Bell on Wednesday, the semiconductor business saw its top line reduced by 50%, and the adjusted loss came to 10 cents per share. Yes, yes, that met expectations. So what? The article also mentioned that the solar operation wasn't doing so hot.

Looking through the actual earnings release, I don't see a lot of things that would make a shareholder happy. Backlog was down. Applied Materials had to use cash to keep things going over the last six months (obviously investors would rather see cash generated from operations). And CEO Mike Splinter described the current climate as very tough in terms of customer demand.

Back in 2002 to 2003, Oracle's (NASDAQ: ORCL) CEO, Larry Ellison, realized that the tech industry was maturing -- and the best strategy would be to engage in aggressive mergers & acquisitions (M&A). It was certainly prescient.

However, other major tech operators have been slow to the game. Just look at Dell (NASDAQ: DELL). While the company has struck some deals -- such as for EqualLogic in 2007 -- the activity has been muted.

Tech investors will be looking forward to seeing how Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) made out in the third quarter. The networking entity, whose colleagues include Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), will be reporting Q3 numbers on Wednesday, May 6, after the market closes. According to analysts, Cisco is not expected to grow the bottom line. The call is for 25 cents per share. If that figure is hit, then it will represent a drop of more than 30% on a year-over-year basis.

Here's the bright side, though. Cisco has beat the analysts at their game in recent times. Quite frankly, I think Cisco should be able to come ahead of estimates this week. I don't necessarily see why the trend will break. It's not like the stock has been telling the market that it will. Shares of Cisco have been doing well.

• Earnings beat expectations. RVBD reported EPS of 13 cents vs. consensus of 10 cents. The revenue number was also higher.
  
  
• Several brokers have enthusiastically raised their targets for RVBD. Lazard Capital raised the price target from $14 to $17, and Wedbush and William Blair upgraded the stock.
  
  
• The percentage of float shorted was 21% at the beginning of April. This stands out as the most interesting piece of data for a trader like me. Given the ignition provided by the good earnings announcement, wouldn't the shorts rush to cover?