"Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) is my favorite stock for gains over the next 12 months," says Chuck Carlson. Here's his bullish assessment from The DRIP Investor newsletter.

"Yes, the market is declining. And, yes, it is often scary to buy during such market periods. Nevertheless, there's an adage that 'the best time to invest was yesterday; the next best time is today'.

"Indeed, countless studies have shown that the best thing any investor can do is invest early and often. That is the best way to maximize the power of time, and time will have the greatest bearing on your investment results.

"Thus, investors need to be willing to buy even when it is difficult to do so, or should I so especially when it is difficult to do so. The reason is that we usually are reluctant to buy stocks during market declines. Yet, if you think about it, declining markets should be precisely the time we buy since stocks are cheaper.

"The stock has demonstrated impressive price performance throughout the market volatility in recent months, rising to its highest level in a year above $50 before pulling back.

"On the strength of two key acquisitions, Brightpoint (NASDAQ: CELL) has become the largest global distributor of wireless devices," says quantitative analyst Vahan Janjigian of Forbes Growth Investor.

"The acquisitons helped boost the number of wireless products handled in 2007 by 55% to 83 million. The company is also the leading provider of customized logistics services to the wireless industry.

"CELL purchases cell phones, batteries, chargers, and memory cards, and then sells them to a global network of 25,000 customers.

"The objective is to acquire distribution rights to products offering the greatest potential for growth. It sells brands made by LG Electronics, Nokia, Kyocera, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Siemens, and Ericsson. This category produced 92% of total 2007 revenues, but it had a gross profit margin of just 4.24%.

Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) are rising on a Wall Street Journal (subscription required) report that Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT) is poised to make a bid for the wireless telecommunication company. If the report is accurate, Sprint's long suffering shareholders should do as the Steve Miller Band song suggests "take the money and run" because the deal may not happen.

For Sprint, though, this may be its only hope. Sprint shares have slumped almost 40% this year as the Overland Park Kansas-based company tried in vain to gain marketshare against larger rivals including Verizon and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T). The commercials starring the company's affable CEO Daniel Hesse haven't helped much either. Remember when Hesse was named CEO last December, board member Irvine O. Hockaday Jr. remarked that Hesse "has the board's full support to take decisive actions necessary to improve our performance."

Does that mean a sale to the former German telecom monopoly? The deal makes sense in theory because combining Sprint and Deutsche Telekom would create the top wireless company with more than 82 million customers. Verizon, which is a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone Group Plc. (NYSE: VOD) has 67.2 million customers while AT&T has about 71 million wireless subscribers.

But as Bloomberg News points out, analysts argue that integrating the Deutsche Telekom and Sprint Nextel networks wouldn't be easy. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security may not look kindly on a foreign company taking over a U.S. telecom provider for national security reasons, the news service notes.

Even so, the arguments for the merger are so compelling that it might be worth the risk.

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.

Airspan Networks (NASDAQ: AIRN) is the favorite speculative idea for 2007 from Nikhil Hutheesing. The editor of The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch explains, "It's clear that over the course of 2007 and into 2008, WiMax (a high-speed next generation wireless network) will become a big story for wireless stocks.

"Investors should consider investing in some potentially exciting WiMax companies now, before hype and WiMax rollouts drive stock prices up. One way is to buy shares of Airspan Networks, a company that makes equipment for these networks.

"Shares of the Boca Raton, FL-based company have fallen about 60% since April of this year because of uncertainty in orders from two customers. One is Yozan, a Japanese wireless carrier that was the first to provide WiMax service in Japan. The other is Axtel, a Mexican telecom operator.

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.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the favorite conservative stock selection from wireless and telecom industry analyst Nikhil Hutheesing, editor of The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch.

He notes, "From May through August of 2006, shares of Qualcomm fell by 37%, spurred in large measure by Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia announcing in June that it would stop making cell phones based on Qualcomm's CDMA (code division multiple access) technology, which it licenses to manufacturers of wireless equipment.

"Qualcomm refused to buckle under pressure from Nokia to reduce its licensing fees and the two companies are now in talks about extending the current licensing agreements, which end in April. If there is no extension, Nokia could stop paying Qualcomm about $500 million in fees annually.

"Also lingering over the company has been a bitter patent dispute battle with Irvine, California-based Broadcom. In October, a judge ruled against Qualcomm in the dispute over one particular patent, saying that Qualcomm violated parts of the patent that help cell phones conserve battery power when out of network coverage. Qualcomm said it would appeal the decision -- the final determination comes next year.