Technology stocks haven't fared this well for a long time.

For example, shares in the online retailer Amazon rose by almost 30 percent in July, and shares in the software company Microsoft by around 10 percent.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index outperformed the broader S&P500 in July -- and all while the mood in the tech stock market was very gloomy just a few weeks ago.

Sarah Huemer

Editor in the "Value" department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Shareholders in tech companies have experienced a lot in recent times: First, it was a steep climb for years.

Technology as a topic of the future aroused the interest of many investors.

The economic environment for tech companies was favorable: low interest rates made cheap loans possible, which companies need for their investments.

And then came the pandemic, which shifted social life even more to the internet.

Tech stocks peaked last fall and winter.

But those who climb high can also fall low: at the beginning of the year, prices fell sharply.

Some values ​​have fallen in the higher double-digit percentage range.

The reason for this was the prospect of rising interest rates.

Loans are becoming more expensive, which could cause problems for some heavily indebted technology companies.

The situation became too uncertain for many shareholders, and they sold their tech shares.

Investors buy heavily

But since July there has been a trend reversal: Investors are again taking action.

Electric car maker Tesla, iPhone maker Apple, chip maker Nvidia and online retailer Amazon have been the most popular stocks among private investors over the past few days, according to data from analytics firm Vanda Research.

According to the figures from the data company S3, tech stocks are also among the largest positions in the portfolio of professional investors.

This is firstly because the higher interest rates are now already included in investors' calculations.

In addition: “Market participants assume that these interest rates will not rise too much in the long term.

That's good for tech stocks," says Tobias Rommel, fund manager at DWS.

The ten-year US government bonds give an indication of what investors expect in the long term: Interest rates here have fallen slightly in the past few weeks.

A bit of uncertainty remains, however, says Michael Schäfer, fund manager at Union Investment.

"If the US central bank continues to raise interest rates significantly, this could put pressure on stocks again."

Not as bad as feared

Second, some tech companies showed in their quarterly reports that supply bottlenecks and higher costs are not hitting them as badly as shareholders feared.

Some of the figures were below analysts' expectations or showed slower growth than a year ago.

But the results are enough to give investors confidence.

"The large technology companies in particular have a strong market position and come through a crisis better than others," says Schäfer.

For example, Alphabet, Google's parent company, was recently able to increase its advertising revenue by 13 percent.

It was more than that.

And on Youtube, owned by Alphabet, ad revenue has fallen somewhat.

But investors were bracing for the worst after comparatively smaller company Snap reported a sharp loss in its advertising division.

They are relieved that Alphabet's stock has increased significantly.

Other market leaders are also convincing investors that they are more resilient than expected: Microsoft can benefit from the fact that demand for its cloud, online storage, has continued to rise.

This division is often less dependent on the general economic situation.

These are long-term subscription models, companies depend on these services.

Amazon also makes good money from the cloud business.

And so both companies were able to increase their sales in the past quarter, Microsoft to around $52 billion, Amazon to around $121 billion - even though things are not going quite as well in other areas.

Apple is crisis-proof

Amazon, for example, is struggling with online sales falling.

These had increased significantly during the pandemic, and now people are increasingly going into local shops again.

Or are currently buying less because of the high prices.

Sales at Amazon fell by four percent compared to the previous year.

Microsoft is primarily suffering from production losses for computers manufactured in China.

In the case of Microsoft, this is noticeable in the sales of licenses.

All of this underscores the importance for investors of taking a close look at each tech company's business model.

How crisis-proof is it?

Does the company make a profit, does it have money to invest?

What if the consumer mood continues to drop, are the products still in demand?

The latter is a question that Apple shareholders in particular are likely to ask themselves.

In times of high prices, it is uncertain: will people still be able to afford an iPhone?

Yes, at least so far is the answer.

Sales of smartphones increased slightly, accounting for almost half of the total sales of $83 billion.

However, it is unclear whether people will continue to buy new mobile phones when there is a significant economic downturn.

With its services such as the App Store or music streaming, Apple has now built a solid second mainstay.

Sales there have grown particularly well, by 12 percent.

Investors like it: Since mid-June, the share has increased by around 23 percent.