For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"Silicom Ltd. (NASDAQ: SILC) is my favorite speculative pick for 2008," says Benson George, in Rising Star Stocks.

"The company's focus is on high-performance Ethernet server adapters. Its products facilitate interaction between servers and enable them to communicate with each other through a number of ports. Silicom's solutions are designed to increase server availability, security and throughput for server gateways.

"The company markets its products directly to OEMs that in turn sell Silicom's products under their own private labels or integrate Silicom's products into their own products.

"The company is exclusively focused on being the leader in server adapter card technology and markets. Revenues for the first nine months of 2007 increased by 74% to a record $19.3 million compared with $11.1 million for the first nine months of 2006. Net income for the period increased by 191% to $4.5 million.

"Silicom is on track for what will be a record-breaking year; the only question is by how much? The company is on pace with double what it earned per share in all of 2006 (49 cents). If demand continues unabated, revenues should reach $26 to $27 million for all of 2007, almost 70% ahead of 2006's $16 million revenues.

"Silicom is well positioned to succeed. It offers superior products in a market experiencing superlative growth. We are initiating coverage with a 'buy' rating and price target of $22, which represents a multiple of 20 times the forward year consensus analyst estimate of $1.08 in EPS."

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite speculative idea for 2008 is China Natural Gas (NASDAQ: CHNG)," says Ian Wyatt, editor of Rising Star Stocks. "The Delaware-registered public company owns and operates natural gas-related businesses in China.

"Its core business is the distribution of compressed natural gas as a vehicular fuel to retail end users and as a natural gas utility supplying over 71,000 residential customers in Lantian County, Lintong and Baqiao Districts in the City (jurisdiction) of Xian.

"Natural gas is one of the cleanest energy sources and one of China's most abundant natural resources. For this reason, the Chinese government sees compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered vehicles as part of the solution to its national environmental woes.

"For 2007 analysts estimate earnings of 38 cents per share on revenues of $33.9 million, an increase of 80% from revenues of $18.8 million in 2006. In 2008 analysts see China Natural Gas growing its earnings to 58 cents on revenues of $55.4 million, a 63% increase from the 2007 estimate of $33.9 million.

A trio of emerging growth advisors see large potential gains from the "smallest" of ideas – nanotechnology. This broad field involves the study and manipulation of matter at an atomic level.

In The Forbes/Wolfe Emerging Tech Report, Josh Wolfe says, "One way for individual investors to gain exposure to nanotech is to invest in publicly traded investment firms making private VC-like investments such as Harris & Harris (NASDAQ: TINY) and Arrowhead Research (NASDAQ: ARWR)."

Wolfe explains, "Arrowhead and Harris & Harris have both grown about 46% annually since 2002 and both market caps are around $250 million. Arrowhead tends to invest in really early stage companies and TINY tends to invest in syndicates of other top venture capital funds."

The advisor continues, "TINY offers a neat way to slip into its private industry deals. I know these guys first hand and the kinds of bets they're making are heavily skewed to the upside. They might lose 100% of any investment on the downside - but they're swinging for 500% or more on the upside."