Higher Open On Upbeat Earnings

Upbeat corporate earnings lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 66 points to 12,546. Nasdaq rose 11 points to 2837.

On the upside

SMART Modular Technologies (Nasdaq: SMOD) will be acquired by Silver Lake Partners and Silver Lake Sumeru in an all cash deal valued at approximately $645 million.

USA Technologies' (Nasdaq: USAT) ePort Connect Service for wireless, cashless point-of-sale payments expanded to include the Verizon Wireless network for connectivity.

Delta Airlines (NYSE: DAL) widened first quarter losses but the results were better than expected and the airliner reassured investors that higher fares will cover rising fuel expenses.

On the downside

Lawson Software (Nasdaq: LWSN) will be taken private by Golden Gate Capital for $11.25 per share, a discount from yesterday's closing price.

Seeking Alpha contributor Glaucus Research issued a due diligence report on Gulf Resources (Nasdaq: GFRE) asserting that shareholders own worthless stock in a shell company.

Lexmark International (NYSE: LXK) disappointed with lower first quarter earnings that fell short of expectations and forecast second quarter results below estimates.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 4 points to 848.