Shares in Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) dropped sharply Monday, falling 5.49 percent by the close of the markets, the largest decline among local stocks tracked by the Examiner. Palo Alto’s VMWare Inc. (VMW) showed the next largest decline, falling 3.9 percent Monday.

At the other end of the spectrum, San Jose’s SunPower Corp. (SPWR) gained 4.34 percent, while Sun Microsystems (JAVA) climbed 2.1 percent.

The markets were down overall. The Dow Jones dropped 0.38 percent, the Nasdaq by 0.54 percent, and the S&P 500 by 0.5 percent.

Local companies in the news Monday afternoon included Sun Microsystems, which reported a swing to aprofit in the first quarter, and San Jose’s BEA Systems Inc. (BEAS), which has reportedly let shareholder Carl Icahn view confidential company information to persuade him the firm is worth more than the $17 ashare recently offered by Redwood City’s Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Both stories were reported by the Associated Press.