Managed care, medical devices, healthcare technology, and diagnostics - all popular areas in previous years - were completely ignored. The only sector to continue to gain favor as Top Picks was the area of specialized drug development and biotech firms.

This year, Ken Kam's choice is Elan Pharmaceuticals: Gilead Sciences is the favorite of Bill Marti, Millennium Pharmaceuticals is the top pick of Ryan Detrick, and Cardium Therapuetics is a top pick from John McCamant.

In technology, with the exception of Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) - the top pick from Charles Carlson - the advisors showed a similar aversion to the large cap, well-known names.

The advisors predominantly leaned towards smaller, more specialized tech firms. For example, the other chip stocks to make the Top Picks list were specialty chipmaker LanOptics – the favorite of George Gilder and chip packaging and testing firm Amkor Techonlogy, the favorite of Todd Salamone.

Among more specialized tech plays, Vahan Janjigian looked to radio frequency component play, Sirenza Microdevices. Gregg Early chose Maxwell Technologies for its role in capacitors, while Josh Wolfe selected tech research services firm, Symyx. Dan Frishberg was the only advisor to offer a diversified technology play, selecting the First Trust Tech exchange-traded fund.

Meanwhile, telecom – which has not been particularly popular in recent years – was one of the more favored areas in this year's report. For a diversified play, technician John Bollinger chose the iShares Global Telecom ETF.

In a clear shift away from yesterday's wireline carriers, this year's top telecom picks are focused on wireless players. Roger Conrad gave his vote to Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), while Richard Sparks went with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and its Cingular operations. Forbes wireless sector expert Nikhil Hutheesing's top pick was WiMax player Airspan Network.

Meanwhile, three advisors looked overseas for wireless telecom plays. Global advisor John Christy selected Finnish company, Nokia Corp. (NYSE:NOK). Yiannis Mostrous looked to Taiwan for his telecom favorite, selecting Chungwa Telecom, and Nick Vardy selected Mexico's wireless phone player, American Movil.

In my next post, I will review the advisors favorite global stocks, which in this year's report were almost exclusively focused on China, as well as energy and metals which -- despite recent volatility -- remains favorite long-term ideas within the advisory community. And, I will review the one sector that showed up as the most popular for the coming year - financial stocks.

Steven Halpern is the editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, which offers a free daily overview of the latest investment ideas from the financial newsletter community.