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.

"PMC-Sierra (PMCS) is a top speculative investment for the coming year," says tech sector specialist Paul McWilliams. Incidentally, Paul's selection of EZChip in last year's Top Picks report rose 135%.

Regarding his new top pick, the editor of Next Inning says, "PMC Sierra is a leader in integrating more functions into a single chip.

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.

"PMC Sierra (PMCS), my top pick for 2010, was a high-flying star during the telecom boom of 1999-2000, but crashed as the bubble of demand burst in 2001," notes Marcie Wilmot.

The contributing editor to Next Inning, a tech-savvy newsletter, suggests, "While it was rough sailing for PMCS after this crash, the company re-cast its business and operating models and is now successfully focusing on high-growth markets where it could leverage its core differentiation.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Semiconductors, ADC Telecomm and Nationwide Financial were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Banc of America upgraded the Semiconductor Sector to Overweight from Market Weight citing indications of a bottom given earnings estimate revision momentum and supply chain inventory levels. The firm upgraded Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Power Integrations (NASDAQ:POWI) and Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) to Buy from Neutral and PMC Sierra (NASDAQ:PMCS) and LSI Corp (NYSE:LSI) to Neutral from Sell.
  
• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of ADC Telecomm (NASDAQ:ADCT) to Buy from Hold as they believe April consensus estimates could prove conservative.
  
• UBS raised Nationwide Financial (NYSE::NFS) to Buy from Neutral and believes a higher offer by Nationwide Mutual is likely.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
  
• Westlate Chemical (NYSE:WLK) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.