Commodity Boom Feeds Tech

This column was originally published on RealMoney on April 26 at 11:08 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.

Last night,

Encore Wire

(WIRE) - Get Report

, which makes cables and wires for the inside of buildings and homes, reported another blow-out quarter.

The biggest reason? Straight from the CEO's mouth in the press release:"Copper continues to climb to new highs, driven by strong global demand. Demand from our customers has also remained strong."

The deduction that WIRE was likely to report a blowout quarter partly as a function of the huge rally in copper isn't much of a stretch. And neither is the way that WIRE's stock is getting rewarded today. It's just like the commodity stocks, such as

Arch Coal

(ACI) - Get Report

, that I've been citing as better trades than tech of late.

You'd think that with

Tellabs

(TLAB)

, which has long been one of my biggest positions, having reported another blow out quarter I might feel "Okay, so we've got exposure to strong places in telecom." But you know what? That's not good enough.

While I am looking for tech to start trading strongly again and am thinking that the commodity run is long in the tooth, I am also searching out what other tech companies are going to benefit from booming commodities.

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

Cody Willard is the manager of a hedge fund, author of

The Telecom Connection

, a newsletter published by

TheStreet.com

and a contributor to the

Financial Times

and

VON Magazine

. He is also a regular guest on CNBC's

Kudlow & Company

and an adjunct professor at Seton Hall.

He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at the University of New Mexico. Willard appreciates your feedback --

click here

to send him an email.