MARKET SAVVY : Savvy Confidential: A Briefing for Investors : On the ‘Hits’ List: Tech Shares, Others

Merrill Lynch’s research folks also were busy Thursday, naming their top 10 tech-stock picks.

Electronics manufacturer Kemet Corp. (ticker symbol: KMET), with a market value of $1.2 billion, is the smallest company on the list. Its shares rose $2.63 to $30. The other nine are among the biggest U.S. tech issues. They are Cisco Systems (CSCO), up $1 to $69.94; Intel (INTC), up $1.81 to $87.75; IBM (IBM), up $4 to $134.75; Motorola (MOT), up $1.13 to $98.69; Nortel Networks (NT), up $1.69 to $45.94; Novellus Systems (NVLS), up 25 cents $66.38; Oracle (ORCL), down 25 cents to $44.06; Sun Microsystems (SUNW), down $1.25 to $84.19; and Texas Instruments (TXN), up 13 cents to $89.

Merrill also released a “Favored 15” list of stocks culled from all market sectors. Along with IBM, Oracle and Texas Instruments, the list has Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), down 44 cents to $38.56; Best Buy (BBY), up $2.63 to $59.50; Cablevision Systems (CVC), up 63 cents to $75.88; Circuit City (CC), up $2 to $39.50; Commscope (CTV), down $1.75 to $34.50; EchoStar Communications (DISH), up 31 cents to $88.06; EMC (EMC), down 44 cents to $65.50; Network Appliance (NTAP), down $1.94 to $65.63; Providian Financial (PVN), up $2.19 to $83.69; Tandy (TAN), down 6 cents to $45.94; Tiffany (TIF), up $3 to $55.88; and Tricon Global (YUM), unchanged at $40.31.