With the continued sell-off in the stock market, there are several stocks in the technology sector that are being unfairly punished. It’s understandable that utilities and real estate investment trusts (REITs) are declining because of the prospect of higher interest rates. But many technology stocks are being indiscriminately sold as well, even though higher rates don’t affect them nearly to the same extent. For companies like utilities and REITs that have a lot of debt, higher interest rates are very painful because it increases their cost of capital. That is not nearly as true for technology companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Intel (INTC), and Cisco (CSCO) because they do not have much long-term debt at all. And, there is the fact that these companies have tens of billions in cash on their balance sheets, which will actually earn more if interest rates rise. The moral of the story: don’t sell cash-rich tech stocks.