Goldman Sachs' 9 Best Stocks for 2012

(Adds that Goldman's outlook was cut by S&P.)

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Goldman Sachs (GS) analysts have nine technology stocks on their short list for now, with six-month price targets that are as high as 61%.

The Wall Street investment bank regularly updates its "conviction buy" list and the technology recommendations include some of the most commonly held technology stocks, including personal-computing bellwether Apple (AAPL), and business-technology giants Oracle (ORCL) and EMC (EMC), as well as some smaller unknowns such as Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR).

Technology stocks have been battered this year, losing 4.4% of their value in a volatile ride, but in the quarter to date, they are up 2.3%.

The gist of it is, if the economy gets rolling, so will technology stocks, but for now, Goldman Sachs is saying this is the best of the bunch. Goldman's main rival, Morgan Stanley (MS), most recently has favored stocks with a defensive bent. The firm said earlier this month that its model portfolio of 48 stocks is overweight in utilities, health care and consumer staples, and is underweight in consumer discretionary and industrials, both of which have underperformed this year.

Goldman Sachs itself, along with its competitors, had long-term credit grades cut today by Standard & Poor's, hurt by Europe's debt crisis and a tweaking of rating criteria.

On the following pages are Goldman Sachs' nine stock picks in the technology sector:

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