Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL), Top Semi Picks by Jefferies in 2011

Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) commented on the semiconductor sector today, and said investors should look more closely at individual companies going forward. Their top picks for 2011 are Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Marvell (NASDAQ:MRVL).

They said "stock selection in order to deliver relative outperformance as we continue to prefer the secular stories such as those with specific revenue share gains, product cycles, or new business ramps."

In response to this, Jefferies downgraded Xilinx (NASDAQ:XLNX) to Underperform from Buy, Atheros (NASDAQ:ATHR) to Hold from Buy, Mellanox (NASDAQ:MLNX), to Hold from Buy and Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) to Hold from Buy.

Broadcom was trading at $46.31, up $0.26, or 0.56 percent, as of 1:20 PM EST. Qualcomm was at $51.82, down $0.52, or 0.99 percent. Marvell was trading at $21.30, up $0.31, or 1.45 percent.