Six Things We Learned About Tech Last Month

Like IBM, Hewlett-Packard gives hope that -- beaten down to 11.5 times its lowered yet still expected earnings this year -- it will spring jack-in-the-box-like against January's broad-based selling. Yet IBM and H-P are 12% and 18% below their 2007 highs, respectively.

4. Pricey stocks are cheaper, and I feel fine. OK, not quite so fine, but still.

Let's take VMware , which had this week's 32% slide coming for a while now. VMware went public at $29 and closed its first day at $51. That was just one day. Since then the stock surged inexplicably to $125 and back down to $56.

What changed? Nothing really, except sentiment. Before this week, VMware -- according to the herd -- had the whole virtualization market sewn up for itself. Once the stock dived, it was suddenly vulnerable to competition. That's market punditry.

Now, VMware is still 50 times its coming earnings, which is nowhere near a buy sign. But it's a little easier to breathe now that that ratio is well into the double digits. It'll be some time before stocks like VMware are appealing, but it's just a relief to know they're getting back there.

5. Margins still matter. Shares of Amazon.com are down 16% this year to Yahoo's pre-Microsoft bid 17% fall. Anyone who bought Amazon recently with its P/E ratio near 90 has got some explaining to do.

Amazon's earnings are a pendulum swinging from big revenue growth to big investments that guarantee same. The margins tell the story, and in 2007 the investments of years past -- harshly criticized by bears -- turned into nice revenue growth.

Last quarter, Amazon's revenue beat expectations, while spending disappointed. Since the company plans is to expand market share, it wants to make that land grab while a slow economy is hurting its rivals. That's smart long term, but for now it's hurting margins.

In short, bears will hurt Amazon in the near-term, whereupon bulls take it back.

6. eBay reinvents itself -- again.

Good for you, eBay! Does anyone else care?