Gains from Cisco Systems Inc. highlighted action in the tech sector Thursday after analysts with Goldman Sachs and Piper Jaffray issued upbeat assessments of the networking-equipment maker.

Cisco shares rose 2.5%, to $17.63, after Goldman Sachs added Cisco’s stock to the brokerage’s conviction buy list, saying the company is benefitting from a “positive inflection in fundamentals” due to signs of improvement in enterprise spending in North America. Goldman also put a $24-a-share price target on Cisco’s stock.

Goldman’s move came after Piper analyst Troy Jensen raised his rating on the company to overweight from neutral late Wednesday, and set a price target of $22 a share on the stock. Cisco is also scheduled to report its most-recent quarterly results on Wednesday, Aug. 15.

Chipmaker Nvidia Corp. edged up 0.8% ahead of its quarterly results, due after Thursday’s market close.

Fusion i-o Inc. shares edged higher in advance of the company’s quarterly report following the close of trading Thursday.

Online social-gaming company Zynga Inc. was up by 2 cents a share at $2.97. On Wednesday, Zynga said Chief Operating Officer John Schappert resigned from the company after 15 months on the job.

Schappert, whom Zynga poached from his COO job with Electronic Arts Inc., was stripped of his responsibilities for running Zynga’s games business after the company reported disappointing quarterly results.

Gains also came from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 10 points to 3,021, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index were also in positive territory.

One of the day’s biggest decliners was Boingo Wireless Inc., which fell by more than 22% to $7.

Late Wednesday, the operator of Wi-Fi hotspots reported second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street estimates, and also gave a third-quarter forecast that was lower than expected. Deutsche Bank analyst Brett Feldman cut his rating on Boingo to hold, and lowered his price target on the stock to $8 a share from $13.

Source: MarketWatch