This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: HMSY), which makes its money by correcting errors in Medicaid payments and recovering misspent money, is my top pick for 2009," says growth stock specialist Dave Dyer.

In his Dave Dyer's Newsletter, he explains, "This is a company whose fundamentals appear to improve as the economy declines.

"If you think that the unemployment rate will rise in 2009, then you ought to love HMS Holdings. They recently raised their 2009 guidance because they expect higher unemployment.

"The company stated that the unemployment rate is the most important leading indicator of growth in the Medicaid program, which in turn, is one of the most important drivers of their revenue.

"Medicaid is funded by the federal government and administered by the individual states. With 40 of the 50 states under contract, HMSY essentially has a monopoly in this market.

"One stock that is holding up well and is poised to do well during hard times is Portfolio Recovery Associates (NASDAQ: PRAA), which is America's most effcient debt recovery company," says Jim Powell in Global Changes & Opportunities Report.

"The company -- which has been on our buy list -- has become especially attractive for the economic conditions I expect to see over the next few months, and probably much longer.

"Portfolio Recovery -- which is America's most efficient debt recovery company -- buys packages of non-performing debts from major credit card companies, and typically pays only 2.6% of the total amount owed. With such a low initial cost, it doesn't take a large collection rate to turn a tidy proft.

"As more consumers default on the colossal debts they ran up during the housing boom, the company should see a great deal of new business.