Lights, Camera, Stock Picks: When Analysts Become TV Stars

You don't have to be famous to be a securities analyst. But it couldn't hurt.

That's one way to interpret the results from TheStreet.com's Analyst Rankings -- Equity 2000 survey. It turns out that many of the analysts who spend hours each week talking to reporters or appearing on TV shows -- when they might be boning up on balance sheets -- also are among the best in the business.

The Winners

By name By category By firm Best stock pickers Best firms

Some media darlings who measure up: Ubiquitous Merrill Lynch Internet bull Henry Blodget is No. 1 in Internet software; Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker -- probably the only analyst to be profiled in The New Yorker -- is No. 3. Lehman Brothers analyst Dan Niles (formerly at Robertson Stephens), who was all over CNBC last year, is a triple threat: No. 4 in computer storage and peripherals, No. 3 in computer hardware and No. 2 in semiconductors.

Dana Telsey, Apparel Retailing

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