Woes in Wireless

Don't you hate it when the saying "Timing is everything" works against you?

Remembering and looking to learn from my earlier lapse of missing a Motorola (MOT - commentary - Cramer's Take) short, I turned to my associate Jonathan as we pulled in front of a giant Sprint (S - commentary - Cramer's Take) billboard ad and said, "Can you even fathom buying a phone from Sprint right now?"

That question launched a lengthy discussion of how badly Sprint has messed up its brand, how bad its phone offerings are and whether it was better branded before the Nextel acquisition. I was going to pull some reports on Sprint today and look into building a short in the name.

Too little too late -- as Sprint warned big for 2007.

Sprint, Motorola, Texas Instruments (TXN - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Cree (CREE - commentary - Cramer's Take) -- I think it's safe to say that the inventory gluts in the semi world have trickled their way through the wireless sector.

Wireless is going to be trouble in the first half of 2007. That doesn't change the fact that Microsoft (MSFT - commentary - Cramer's Take) Vista and the enterprise are driving a new tech spending cycle away from wireless. Or that Research In Motion's (RIMM - commentary - Cramer's Take) Pearl is rockin'.

At any rate, investors are rotating out of oil and commodities again this morning, and tech is opening strongly. We have our theme for the first full week of trading in 2007, don't we?

At the time of publication, the firm in which Willard is a partner was net long Microsoft and Research In Motion, although positions can change at any time and without notice.

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Cody Willard is the manager of CL Willard Capital Management, LLC. He is a regular guest on Fox News, CNBC and other networks, and he writes a monthly column for the Financial Times. He is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and the author of TheCodyReport.net, a monthly stock market newsletter. Willard appreciates your feedback -- click here to send him an email.