The top 10 US stock pickers in the 2008 FT/StarMine awards span a wide variety of sectors, from software to oil, healthcare equipment to mortgage finance, telecoms to commercial banks.

All 10 come from different firms. These include bulge bracket players such as Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, and smaller specialist outfits such as Fearnley Fonds and Sterne, Agee and Leach.