True, the market has rallied 25% from its early March low -- but it's still off a good 7% on the year. Meanwhile, technology stocks have quietly posted some remarkable returns in 2009.

Google (GOOG), which reports quarterly earnings after today s market close, has jumped 20% year-to-date. Heavy-hitters such as Apple (AAPL), Research in Motion (RIMM) and Amazon.com (AMZN) have gained roughly 40% to 60%. Indeed, overall, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index is up nearly 3% in 2009. And Morningstar says tech-oriented mutual funds have returned 12.2% in 2009 through Tuesday, the best of the 17 domestic equity fund categories it tracks.

Yet when Intel (INTC), the world's largest semiconductor company, called a bottom to the PC market on Wednesday, the market shrugged.

Is the great tech sector outperformance of 2009 over already?

Probably not, tech analysts and investors say, but this might not best be the time to go chasing returns in the space. Given their cyclicality, seasonality and momentum, most folks would do well to sit tight on tech stocks -- for now.

Partly that's because much of the recent outperformance was a result of over-punishment tied to all the financial firms that teetered and failed last fall. After all, banks are responsible for a disproportionate share of tech spending. As financial services firm wobbled or went out of business, the outlook for tech became bleak, says Kim Caughey, senior analyst with Fort Pitt Capital Group and the Fort Pitt Capital Total Return Fund (FPCGX).

"But then the dust settled and investors realized that banks were still going to be around and the functions of banking are still around and need to be conducted on technology," Caughey says. Investors also gradually realized that even though companies are cutting back on tech spending, the rate wasn't going to zero.

Add to that rebound effect the fact that tech stocks tend to move first in market recoveries. Historically, tech-sector leadership in nascent bull markets has been very rewarding for investors. Fidelity's Market Analysis, Research, and Education group looked at the eight bull markets between 1960 and 2008. On average, the tech sector produced a 12-month return of 45%, beating the broader market by 11 percentage points. As more folks begin to believe in a second-half rebound, it's only natural that tech should be in the vanguard.

Having lots of cash and little debt helps, too, says George Kurian, an analyst with Tradition Capital Management, a Summit, N.J.-based investment manager. "We think tech is now outperforming partly because of the cyclical component and partly because of the relatively strong tech balance sheets," Kurian says. "The large-cap tech valuations also became very attractive by last November when tech leaders such as Apple sold for about two-times net balance sheet cash per share."

And, at least this time around, tech could be a beneficiary of the Obama administration's stimulus plan, says Keith McCullough, chief executive and chief investment officer of Research Edge, a New Haven, Conn.-based research firm, who is long the SPDR Technology exchange-traded fund (XLK). Mergers and acquisitions activity should pick up given the cash-rich balance sheets, despite recent doubts about IBM (IBM) striking a deal for Sun Microsystems (JAVA), he says.

However, caveats remain. For one thing, as Caughey points out, much of the tech sector's recent gains have been predicated on momentum. "I don't know if momentum investing is the best approach in a bear market," she says. As fast as the money comes in, it can blow out just as quickly. When BlackBerry maker Research in Motion posted better-than-expected results in early April, shares shot up 21% in a day. "That is crazy," Caughey says.

Furthermore, just because they're early-cycle stocks doesn t mean they're disconnected from the larger cycle. "It is unlikely that tech's destiny will be divorced from that of the economy," Kurian says. A bet on tech at this point takes faith that the recession will indeed end sooner rather than later.

But perhaps the most common mistake new investors in tech make is that they don't understand its seasonality. Revenue is strongest in the fourth quarter. The first and second quarters are OK but successively weaker. The third-quarter, encompassing the summer months, is a dog. That's when tech stocks tend to get much cheaper, as momentum investors -- who are betting on revenue acceleration -- bail out.

"We're going into a softer season for tech, so I don't know if I would deploy new money right now," says Caughey. "But I would certainly use this time to line up what I want to buy and set some prices for myself."