Top Picks 2007: Gilder expects E.Z. surprises at LanOptics

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

LanOptics Ltd. (NASDAQ: LNOP) is a top speculative selection for 2007 from George Gilder. The technology guru and editor of The Gilder Technology Report explains, "Yokneam, Israel-based LanOptics has been a beauty for investors in 2006, nearly tripling off of its $5 price at the beginning of the year.

"Through its subsidiary, E.Z. Chip Technologies, Ltd., LNOP sells network processors or NPUs -- programmable chips that process data, voice, and video packets at high speed -- which should gradually find their way into Ethernet switches and routers across the network, especially in metro regions as triple-play applications become ubiquitous.

"This company has been building momentum, and the window of opportunity to buy at start-up prices may be drawing to a close. The network industry is now as innovative as the PC industry was, constantly changing and creating new products. E.Z. Chip has survived because it boasts the most flexible and most highly integrated chips, becoming a general-purpose solution to the network market -- much as the microprocessor was to the PC.

"Volume markets for 10-gig NPUs are quickly developing -- welcome news for LNOP, which is a champion at reading packets, deciding how to distribute them, and converting them to the appropriate protocols at wire-speed. We expect upside surprises over the next two years."