Shares in Intel Corp and Yahoo! Inc have advanced in German trading after earnings topped analysts' estimates.

This has spurred optimism about sales of computers, electronics and online advertising going into the holidays, Bloomberg News reported.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, said late on Tuesday that profit rose 43 percent on demand for personal computers in Europe and Asia.

Yahoo, owner of the most-visited United States Website, reported a surge in sales of banner ads. That helped its profit fall less than analysts predicted.

"You're seeing solid to better-than-expected if not spectacular news out of a couple of big bellwethers, with both Yahoo and Intel looking pretty good," said Kevin Landis, chief investment officer at Firsthand Capital Management in San Jose, California. His firm owns Yahoo stock and plans to buy shares in Intel. "It is going to be good news for tech stocks," he said.

Intel, whose processors run more than 70 percent of the world's PCs, said demand will hold up for the rest of the year, allowing the company to improve profit margins. Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini said there hasn't been a negative impact on PC orders from the tightening of consumer credit in the U.S..

Intel rose five percent to 26.76 u.S. dollars at 10:21a.m. in Frankfurt yesterday, in trading of 15,680 shares. The stock has gained 26 percent this year through until Tuesday, making it the sixth-best performers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo climbed 8.7 percent to 29 dollars in trading of 27,919 shares.

The CEOs at both companies are enacting turnaround plans. Otellini has sped up development of new processors to win back orders from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. He's also cut jobs and sold money-losing units to help shave 1 billion dollars in costs.

"Intel has a lot better product portfolio than they had a year ago, and they're taking share from AMD," said Greg Barlage, a Boston-based analyst at Baring Asset Management, which owns Intel shares as part of its 35 billion dollars in assets. The earnings report "is going to make you feel a bit better about technology in general."

Yahoo's results came near the end of a 100-day review by CEO Jerry Yang, who took over in June. Yang, 38, seeks to boost the company's Internet search business and revive growth in display ads, where News Corp's MySpace and Facebook Inc have taken sales.

While Yahoo failed to cut Google Inc's lead in search, sales of so-called display advertising, a category that includes banner ads, rose 20 percent. That trend may continue after the announcement on Tuesday of new ad contracts with Forbes.com and WebMD Health Corp.

Revenue in the fourth quarter will rise to between 1.31 billion dollars and 1.45 billion dollars , Yahoo said.