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It’s been a rough ride for technology this year. However, the small-cap tech space looks to be bottoming out, which means opportunities are emerging for investors.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq index is down roughly 5% year-to-date, though narrowing from a wider negative margin of as much as almost 17% in March.

“[Small-cap tech] has been an area that has been very much a stock picker's market rather than a broad coverage,” said Joe McNay, chief investment officer and managing principal of Essex Investment Management Company, in an interview last week.  “Overall, I think it's been an improving area that many stocks are making bottoms in — as a whole it continuously looks a little better. We’re at a point where there are lots of opportunities.”

Much like the economy, technology stocks exhibit a degree of cyclicality. The first expenditures that businesses typically cut back on are technology purchases. On the consumer side, disposable income is funneled into necessities first and discretionary items second.

The consumer could remain under pressure, as rocketing food and oil prices coupled with credit that is hard to come by and rising unemployment levels have crimped purse strings this year. However, as the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts begin to kick in and create greater liquidity, corporations should get back on their feet as they . . .

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