For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite conservative idea for 2008 is Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), which I consider a core holding," says Paul McWilliams, editor of Next Inning.

"INTC is the number one semiconductor company in the world and if we exclude memory products, Intel manufactures more wafers on leading-edge fabrication processes than all the rest of the semiconductor industry combined.

"While its prior CEO was caught sleeping at the wheel, its new CEO, Paul Otellini, has both revitalized Intel's 'healthy sense of paranoia' and usurped the short-term architectural advantages temporarily enjoyed by its only viable competitor, Advanced Micro Devices.

"The net result is that Intel's pro forma operating profit margin has bounced back from a low of 17.7% in early 2006 to nearly 26% last quarter. Between this and the anecdotal evidence we can see in the constant barrage of advertisements we see for PCs, I think the evidence strongly suggests that Intel is again able to sell its processors at a premium when compared to Advanced Micro Devices.

"While I think Wall Street is clearly overlooking supply-side issues that provide Intel with nearly insurmountable advantages, it appears to me its real confusion involves demand. Sure, American consumers are feeling the pinch of higher energy costs and, for some, rising mortgage rates.

"In addition to this, it's only logical to assume slower capital spending by financial institutions caught up in the subprime fiasco and the bloodied US automotive industry. However, what I believe Wall Street is overlooking is that the US is no longer the largest market for consumer PCs and that demand for both PCs and servers, which are increasingly powered by Intel chips, is booming on a global basis.

"Based on these opinions, as I noted earlier this year when Intel was trading in the teens, I believe Intel's fair value for 2008 is $35 to $40 per share."