2022 brought about a sea change in the way technology companies do business. In the years prior, interest rates were near record lows, which meant capital was extremely cheap, so investors encouraged tech organizations to spend heavily on growth even if it meant they lost money at the bottom line.

But that changed last year as the U.S. Federal Reserve embarked on the most aggressive campaign to hike interest rates in its history in order to tame soaring inflation. Now, investors want to see companies generating a profit as opposed to outright growth. That led to much lower stock prices for most of the tech industry.

Cloud computing company DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) took the hint and successfully transitioned to profitability, but in the second quarter of 2023, it saw a deceleration in revenue growth that could be linked to its reduced investments in marketing and customer acquisition. Investors sent its stock price plunging 24% immediately following the report, and it's now trading 72% below its all-time high.

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Source Fool.com