Peridot Capital has been underweight technology stocks for a while. The highly cyclical sector traded at a premium for years, even after the bubble burst, and investors expecting decades of consistent double-digit earnings growth were, and still are, in dreamland. The Nasdaq as a whole still looks expensive, but for the first time in a long time, tech stock bargains have been popping up lately.

The timing isn't clear to me, as we haven't had a dramatic correction. The Nasdaq rose nearly 9 percent in 2004, and even though 2005 has been weak thus far, most stocks haven't seen eBay-like haircuts. It's becoming easier to find tech leaders trading at or below market valuations nonetheless.

For example, Cisco (CSCO) looks cheap. After buying the networking giant in 1994, I haven't wanted to put new money into the stock in years. However, at $18 a share the stock looks like a conservative, fairly low risk tech value. After subtracting $7 billion in cash, Cisco trades at about 18 times calendar 2005 earnings. When was the last time that happened? Juniper (JNPR) might have better business fundamentals right now, but you'll pay at least twice as much for such growth.

Another attractive candidate for purchase is Symantec (SYMC). The stock was crushed after it announced plans to acquire Veritas (VRTS). Both companies have stunning balance sheets and are leaders in their spaces. Investors should question how two companies that sell completely different product lines will be integrated, but the combination at 20x earnings could prove a good value if the deal meshes better than some people think.

Tech isn't a place to jump in with both feet. That said, large cap leaders used to trade at a premium but now seem to have lost their luster. P/E's of 17-20 for the industry's dominant players now seem fair, fair enough to at least have a market weighting and not feel nervous about significant downside risk.