As of August 2011, major public technology companies had all-time low price/earnings ratios.

True: market data from August 2011 show that P/E ratios for major public technology companies (for example, large-cap tech such as Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Cisco, or a tech-sector index) were at or very near their all-time (historical) lows at that time. Mostly true: valuations were at multi-decade or historically very low levels and close to record lows, but not strictly the lowest ever for every major company, or the record holds for the sector index but not for every company. Mixed: some major tech companies were at record lows while the sector as a whole was not. Mostly false: P/E ratios were low compared with recent years (for example, below the dot-com era or the 10-year average) but clearly above earlier historical lows, so 'all-time low' overstates it. False: P/E ratios for major tech companies and the sector were not unusually low by historical standards.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Tech Stocks Cheapest Since 1998 as IPOs Spur Bubble Fear StockWatch (republishing Bloomberg data) · 6 June 2011

   “It trades at 9.7 times reported earnings, down from its peak multiple of 81 in 1999. The 34 percent discount to the S&P 500 is the widest since at least 1992, Bloomberg data show.”

2. E2 Tech Stocks Cheapest Since 1998 as IPOs Spur Bubble Fear StockWatch (republishing Bloomberg data) · 6 June 2011

   “Based on those estimates, technology companies trade for 12.8 times profit, compared with 13.1 for the S&P 500, data compiled by Bloomberg show.”

3. E3 Microsoft Looks Very Attractive Before The Windows 8.0 Release (NASDAQ:MSFT) Seeking Alpha · 25 August 2011

   “Over the past 13 years, the company's valuation multiples have compressed severely: the Enterprise Value/Sales ratio plummeted from 24.3x to 2.4x, while the P/E ratio dropped from 62x to 1.0x. Microsoft's current valuation is the lowest in its history.”

4. E4 financial Archives MacDailyNews · 19 December 2011

   “Zaky: Apple’s P/E Ratio at lowest level since financial crisis despite 92% earnings growth”

E1 (Bloomberg data, June 2011) is headlined 'Tech Stocks Cheapest Since 1998' and reports an unnamed subject ('It') trading at 9.7 times reported earnings, down from a peak of 81 in 1999. Their discount to the S&P 500 was the widest since at least 1992. That is a low level, but it is not an all-time low for the sector. E3 (August 2011), a Seeking Alpha article, says Microsoft's valuation was the lowest in its history, which suggests at least one major company may have been at a record low; the same article gives a P/E of 1.0x, which makes its figures less certain. E4, a headline on a page dated December 2011, says Apple's P/E was at its lowest level since the financial crisis, which is not an all-time low; it does not show Apple's P/E as of August 2011. The evidence reports at most one major company (Microsoft, per E3) at a record low, while the sector as a whole was described as the cheapest since 1998 rather than at an all-time low (E1), which is closest to the "mixed" criterion.