Analyst Upgrades

• Applied Materials (AMAT) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Air Products (APD) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Youku.com (YOKU) and Pinnacle West (PNW) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Stryker (SYK) and Zimmer (ZMH) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Zions Bancorp (ZION) to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Alnylam (ALNY) to buy from hold at Needham.
• AK Steel (AKS) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.

This post is part of a special report, Top Picks for 2010, the 27th annual survey in which TheStockAdvisors.com asks the nation's leading advisors for their single favorite stock for the new year. See all 80 stocks listed here.

"EZchip Semiconductor (EZCH), a fabless semiconductor company that specializes in network processors, is my top pick for the coming year," says technology sector guru Paul McWilliams.

In his Next Inning newsletter, designed for sophisticated tech investors, he suggests, "I think the upside potential here in 2010 and beyond is significant.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup upgraded Adtran (NASDAQ: ADTN) to Buy from Hold on expectations the company will benefit from the broadband Stimulus funds.
• Morgan Stanley upgraded Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) to Overweight from Equal Weight based on relative valuation and views the company as a "survivor." Additionally, the analyst lowered 2009 industry estimates but believes it is the last cut for the year and is incrementally more positive on the sector.
• Morgan Stanley also upgraded EXFO Electro-Optical (NASDAQ: EXFO) to Overweight from Market Weight based on valuation.
• Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Ascent Solar (NASDAQ: ASTI) was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan.
• Mechel Steel (NYSE: MTL) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse.

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."