This post is part of a report entitled "Six-pack of technology favorites." You can read about the other top tech stock picks here.

"It's time to watch for buying opportunities -- and one of the companies on my personal list is Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), whose shares are in buying range right now," says analyst Glenn Rogers.

The contributing editor to Gordon Pape's Internet Wealth Builder explains, "This semiconductor maker is a good choice for investors who would like to add to their information technology position with shares of a first-class company."

"Broadcom, located in Irvine, California, designs semiconductors for the wired and wireless communications industry. It is a major supplier to Apple's iPhone, which has taken the world by storm this past year.

"Specifically, it powers the brilliant display screen that has captivated users since the launch of the iPhone last year. (Full disclosure: I've just picked up my new 3G iPhone.)

"It also provides the chip that delivers the GPS navigation in the new iPhone. The company holds over 2,000 U.S. and foreign patents and has more than 7,400 pending patent applications.

"But Broadcom is not just an iPhone supplier. It also powers the Motorola TV set top boxes, Netgear wireless routers, Bluetooth and Blu-ray applications, digital television, VOIP, etc. There are lots of chipmakers out there but Broadcom operates in the areas that offer the highest growth potential and the least commoditization in this sector.

With concerns over recession, turmoil in the financial sector, fear of rising rates, high market volatility and a rising aversion to risk, many investors have been avoiding technology stocks.

Investors have feared that these economic headwinds will dampen both consumer spending for technology products and reduced capital expenditures for technology in the corporate sector.

Despite these concerns, some of the newsletter industry's leading advisors are looking beyond the current malaise and seeing longer-term value in some of the tech sector's leading players. They believe that much of the "bad news" is already reflected in the price of the shares, with little recognition being given to their longer-term potential.

For those willing to go against the crowd and buy, as they say, "while blood is running in the street," we offer a six-pack of technology stocks that the some top advisors considers to be among their favorite ideas.

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Tuesday. Following Monday's broad sell-off and volatile session, which was also marked by low volume, today might not be different -- volatile and low volume. Several reports are in focus today, specifically some housing data that could shine more light on the sector, and consumer confidence, which could also move stocks. Meantime, oil prices declined and the dollar strengthened against major currencies.

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) shares are down over 3% in premarket trading after the mining giant reported fiscal first-half profit more than doubled. RTP's acquisition of Alcan and soaring commodity prices helped Rio achieve the results. RTP shares have been declining due to worldwide slower growth.

Meanwhile, Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) shares were 2.4% higher in after-hours after it announced a plan to buy back up to $5 billion of stock.

Staying with share buybacks, Coach (NYSE: COH) are also 1.7% higher in premarket trading after announcing a buyback program of up to $1 billion, which follows the completion of a similar repurchase.

And of course, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH). Shares of the embattled banker are rising this morning following speculation that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts may be interested in buying Neuberger Berman, according to CNBC, while Blackstone Group backed away.

Stock futures were mixed Monday morning, indicating stock would start on a down note a week full of economic data. This morning, investors are focusing on rising oil prices and existing home sales data to be released at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Also, over the weekend, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke commented from the Fed's yearly retreat, saying that problems in credit markets not yet over and are a threat to economy. Meanwhile, economists are saying inflation is catching up to the credit crisis as the major concern for the economy.

American International Group's (NYSE: AIG) credit ratings may be downgraded by Fitch due to uncertainties over AIG's exposure to mortgage backed securities. AIG was down 1.5% in after-hours Friday.

The Australian government approved Chinalco 14.99% stake in Rio Tinto's (NYSE: RTP) but warned the Chinese firm against buying more shares without prior approval. Alcoa (NYSE: AA) backed the purchase. RTP shares were up over 1% in Australian trading.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) will pay around $192.8 million in cash to acquire chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (NYSE: AMD) digital TV business, the companies announced Monday.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM - option chain) shares are moving higher today after an article in Barron's over the weekend said the stock could rise as much as 40 percent as the chipmaker enters the market for smartphones. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on BRCM.

BRCM opened this morning at $28.23. So far today the stock has hit a low of $27.76 and a high of $28.39. As of 12:20, BRCM is trading at $27.86, up 40 cents(1.5%). The chart for BRCM looks bullish and S&P gives BRCM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a November bull-put credit spread below the $20 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 13.6% return in just three months as long as BRCM is above $20 at November expiration. Broadcom would have to fall by more than 27% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

BRCM hasn't been below $20 since April and has shown support around $23 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in BRCM.

Minyanville Professor Sean Udall dares to share the kind of keen insight and actionable information you won't find in any prospectus. For more original thought, visit www.minyanville.com.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) crushes and I still think it's the best chip name on the planet. But as stated yesterday, I was worried about muted guidance and BRCM talked margins down, while guiding rev's higher.

This morning the stock surged off its after-hours low last night and I'm not sure how it pushed down into the $24's. Frankly I wish I had been in front of my trading station at that time, even though it has drifted lower as the day has progressed.

Bottom line, post earnings I'm back to being a buyer on weakness and feel anything in the $25's is an excellent entry, long term and/or even shorter term.

Disclosure: Position in BRCM.

EMC (NYSE:EMC) is up 6% on strong earnings.

VMWare (NYSE:VMW) is down 14% on a weak forecast for the balance of 2008.

E*Trade (NASDAQ:ETFC) is off 15% after missing Wall St. estimates.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) is off 5% on poor earnings.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do in the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Minyanville Professor Sean Udall dares to share the kind of keen insight and actionable information you won't find in any prospectus. For more original thought, visit www.minyanville.com.

The Brocade Communications (NASDAQ: BRCD) deal is interesting for a couple reasons. First of all -- hey it's a deal. So yes, deals can still get done, even in this market.

Second, and more importantly, BRCD is paying $3 billion or almost exactly three times the cash and investments on Foundry Networks' (NASDAQ: FDRY) books. So in essence, 1/3 of the deal price is being funded by the liquidity of Foundry Networks balance sheet. Looking at the technology landscape, there are a whole bunch of companies that look like FDRY from a balance sheet perspective.

Also, this deal highlights the fact that even in a market full of angst, companies do look forward to see what business trends they want to exploit. My take is BRCD is seeing it wants a bigger part of the bandwidth pie going forward and the two companies may have complementary technology to help extend their current reach.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: European banks, the Paper and Forest Products sector, Kindred Healthcare and Convergys were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Keefe Bruyette upgraded the European Banks sector to Neutral from Underweight on valuation as they see limited downside from current levels. Included in the firm's top picks are HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) and Banco Santander SA (NYSE: STD).
• Credit Suisse upgraded the Paper and Forest Products sector to Overweight from Underweight citing valuations and expectations that fundamentals will bottom this fall. The firm raised shares of Temple-Inland Inc (NYSE: TIN) and Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation (NASDAQ: SSCC) to Outperform from Neutral.
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Kindred Healthcare Inc (NYSE: KND) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent pullback and believes the company is well-positioned to beat modest expectations over the remainder of the year. The firm raised their target to $36 from $29.
• Oppenheimer raised Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) to Outperform from Perform on valuation, as they believe investors should look at the company's business lines separately. Their sum of parts valuation yields an $18 target.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Suncor Energy Inc (NYSE: SU) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan and to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.
• UBS upgraded BT Group Plc (NYSE: BT) to Neutral from Sell.
• Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper.

Deutsche Bank downgraded AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) to "hold" from "buy", according to MarketWatch.

Lehman Brothers reiterated its "overweight" rating on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) ahead of the 3G iPhone going on sale, according to the AP.

UBS downgraded Merck (NYSE:MRK) from "buy" to "neutral", according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Piper Jaffray upgraded Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) to "buy" from "neutral."

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: iRobot, Felcor Lodging and Office Max were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Stanford initiated iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) with a Buy rating and $18 target and believes better-than-expected military robot sales will allow the company to beat 2008 consensus estimates.
  
• Felcor Lodging (NYSE: FCH) was initiated at Keefe Bruyette with a Market Perform rating and $12.50 target. The firm believes material upside is unlikely given the company's above average suburban and airport exposure.
  
• Soleil assumed Office Max (NYSE: OMX) with a Hold rating and $17 target, as they believe macroeconomic challenges and heightened competition will limit near-term upside in the stock.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) were initiated with Outperform ratings at Cowen.
  
• Knot Inc. (NASDAQ: KNOT) was started with an Outperform rating at William Blair.
  
• Deutsche Bank initiated Cardtronics (NASDAQ: CATM) with a Buy rating and $13 target.

Don't know where the market is headed? Some people think a full blown crash is possible; some believe this is a good time to buy while others just don't know what to believe. Well, I just don't care and neither should you.

Because if you're like me, you've learned to take everything one high percentage profit trade at a time, whether you're betting on higher or lower prices. That's right, I'm talking about easy individual market inefficiencies like THIS.

As for the markets a whole, it's the same pathetic guessing game it'll always be, filled with plenty of "gurus" with polished-sounding theories where only a few truly brilliant hedge fund managers guess correctly with the rest of us just trying not to pull a Bill Miller (look foolish).

Editor's Note: This post comes courtesy of Sean Udall, a wise player in the tech field. For more, visit www.minyanville.com.

Interesting article on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone "potential" teardown. Implications are that the 3G iPhone will carry higher margins than previous model. We will see shortly and I still expect Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) to benefit from the actual teardown.

Speaking of Broadcom, the company got the all clear on a patent infringement deal with SiRF Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRF) and I like the emerging technical setup on BRCM.

Elsewhere, Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) reports today and has been a solid tech name this year, really many years for that matter. I don't expect any big surprises.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) is at the William Blair growth conference. Gaming sales were reported strong again last week. This is probably a cheap solid grower but I prefer the growing online gaming model, I've discussed on the Buzz in the past.

SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR) was upgraded this morning and presenting at an Alternative Energy conference on Wednesday. I was going to trade this again but the analyst action is spiking the stock today.

Evergreen Solar's (NASDAQ: ESLR) shareholder and analyst meetings is scheduled this week and I'm thinking this could fuel bullish action.

Regarding Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) and EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC), I overheard some bullish comments on these stocks on CNBC this morning. I've discussed COMV on the buzz previously and ENOC is their sister company. Both companies offer technology solutions for managing the power grid more efficiently and I think both stocks are cheap emerging growth stocks.

Position in BRCM, ESLR, COMV.

Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) shares are falling after Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) warned that weak demand for cell-phone chips could hurt TI's second-quarter earnings. TXN is off by about 2%, but since BRCM specializes in communications chips, it is taking a bigger hit from the bad news. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on BRCM.

After hitting a one-year high of $43.07 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.38 in March. This morning, BRCM opened at $27.00. So far today the stock has hit a low of $26.13 and a high of $27.00. As of 1:10, BRCM is trading at $26.69, down $1.01 (-3.7%). The chart for BRCM looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $32.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in six weeks as long as BRCM is below $32.50 at July expiration. Broadcom would have to rise by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

Before the bell: Futures steady ahead of payroll report

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is holding its annual shareholder meeting Friday.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs will deliver his keynote speech Monday June 9 and may unveil then an iPhone that works with third-generation, or 3G, wireless networks, which are much faster than current AT&T (NYSE: T)'s network as Apple tries to lure business users from Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry users and reach more international customers. If the iPhone was at first positioned as a consumer phone, the business segment is too lucrative to avoid, not to mention that many overseas customers are used to 3G networks.

Verizon Wireless has agreed Thursday to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion, which would make it by far the largest cellular carrier in the U.S. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). The deal comes just seven months after Alltel was taken private by TPG Capital and a unit of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS). Together, they would have some 80 million subscribers, surpassing AT&T (NYSE: T)'s 71 million.