"Our goal is helping investors grow their capital and income base from which to derive cash for their current and future needs," notes dividend expert Kelley Wright.

The editor of Investment Quality Trends explains, "To that end we believe that high-quality stocks purchased at historically low-price-to-high-yield offers the best potential for downside protection and upside appreciation. Our Timely Ten list represents our current top ideas.

Analyst Upgrades

• Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Nvidia (NVDA) to outperform from market perform at JMP Securities.
• Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Leap Wireless (LEAP) and MetroPCS (PCS) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
• Illumina (ILMN) to buy from hold at Auriga.
• Sun Bancorp (SNBC) to neutral from sell at Janney Capital.
• American Tower (AMT), SBA Communications (SBAC) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.

Verizon (VZ) primarily competes with Sprint Nextel (S) and AT&T (T) in the mobile subscription plan business. The average monthly fee that Verizon's postpaid wireless subscribers pay for wireless service, excluding data service, has been consistently declining over the past few years. The decline in pricing is mainly attributable to nearing saturation of the U.S. cellular market, creating fierce competition among telecom players to maintain and increase their market share.

A successful Verizon-iPhone (AAPL) deal and rising data revenues from smart phone penetration could, however, offset declines in average mobile plan prices.

Yesterday marked a pretty big day for Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), as customers could finally walk into a Verizon store and pick up an iPhone. Some analysts had expected to see some long lines, but they did not materialize, creating the impression that the launch was less than successful, but looks can be deceiving.

It is easy to understand where the confusion comes from. In the past, whenever Apple released a new iPhone we saw long lines and often not even supply to cover the launch date demand, resulting in long waits for eager iPhone fanatics to get their hands on the new smartphone.

Tomorrow is a big day for Verizon (VZ) customers who have been waiting to get their chance to join the iPhone revolution, and we now learn that Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) will also be carrying the Verizon iPhone 4 at 600 retail stores across the nation.

As of today, when you visit Apple's (AAPL) website you are given the option to order an iPhone for use on either AT&T (T) or Verizon, with the price being the same for either option.

Old reliable AT&T (T), first written about here on February 11, 2009, at a price of $25.89, has meandered near $28 in the past three months, after probing the $30 level, but that doesn't change the view from here that argues it pays to own to some shares of T.

And the reason is obvious enough: AT&T remains well-positioned to be a force in the Internet/communications revolution in the years ahead. Look for AT&T's revenue to grow about 1% to 3% in 2011, led by an impressive increase in cell phone customers (which numbered about 93 million as of June 2010) and wireless data service customers.

This post is one in a series in which more than 60 newsletter advisors share their Top Stock Picks for 2011. This special report is courtesy of TheStockAdvisors.com.

"The good folks at AT&T (T) have seemingly accomplished what all the kings horse's and all the king's men could not; they have put Humpty Dumpty back together again," says dividend specialist Michael Minney.

The editor Investment Quality Trends explains, "While not a mirror image of the 'old' Ma Bell, the latest incarnation of AT&T is arguably much better.

The stock of AT&T (T), first written about here on February 11, 2009, at a price of $25.89, recently pushed $30, after meandered near $26 for the better part of a year, and I obviously still like the shares here.

AT&T remains well-positioned to remain a force in the Internet/communications revolution in the years ahead. Look for AT&T's revenue to grow about 2% to 4% in 2011, led by an impressive increase in cell phone customers (which numbered about 93 million as of June 2010) and wireless data service customers. In 2010, revenue should rise 1% to 3%.

You win some you lose some. This story is about one of my less successful investments, which I acquired and sold many years ago. Over the past four years, I have written many times about Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), by far my best stock investment, up 4,500%, give or take, over a ten-year period. I bought in at the bottom and held on for the ride, until last year when the market tanked and took Intuitive Surgical with it.

The other company was Superconductor Technologies (SCON), the makers of high-temperature devices that improve communications transmission quality.

One of the hottest categories in tech is location-based services (LBS). Essentially, this means using your smartphone's GPS capability to show friends your current location. One of the early leaders in the space is Foursquare, which recently snagged a large amount of venture capital. But other players are diving in. For example, Shopkick recently rolled out a pilot of its LBS platform to allow shoppers at Best Buy (BBY) to get discounts. And of course, Facebook recently launched its Places capability.

In fact, now AT&T (T) is getting into the game. The telecom giant has teamed up with an LBS startup, SCVNGR, which has a rewards system for the iPhone and Android. It will be in 50 AT&T stores throughout the Midwest as a trial program.