The market rally makes it ever more crucial to pick cream-of-the-crop stocks, Laszlo Birinyi of Birinyi Associates said Thursday.
"You're seeing one of the broadest, strongest markets, and I think the story is not sectors. The story is not themes. The story is not ideas," he said. "The story is stocks."
On CNBC's "Fast Money," Birinyi said that it would be tough to outperform this market.
"It's not health care; it's Johnson & Johnson and Celgene. It's not financials; it's BlackRock, Berkshire, Franklin Resources. No one talks about telecom stocks; Verizon's up 14 percent. No one mentions the airlines; it's stocks," he said. "You have a very broad market, which makes it very difficult for managers because everything is going up. Now you've got to pick the best of the best, and it's a lot tougher.
Birinyi's top holdings include SPDR S&P 500 ETF, Apple, Google, IBM, Priceline, MasterCard, McDonald's, Verizon, SPDR DJIA Trust and Amazon.com.
While some investors were looking for "a top-down play," he said, this market was a bottom-up environment.
Birinyi said that he wasn't overly concerned about earnings.
"It doesn't bother me because it doesn't bother the market," he said.
The one sector Birinyi said should be avoided was materials – specifically calling out gold and copper as metals to ignore.
"I want to be a stock picker in this market," he added.
Trader disclosure: On March 28, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long GS; Stephanie Link is long CSCO; Stephanie Link is long FB; Stephanie Link is long IBM; Josh Brown is long AAPL; Josh Brown is long GDX; Josh Brown is long GLD; Josh Brown is long XLU; Josh Brown is long TLT; Josh Brown is long WMT; Josh Brown is long HES; Steve Weiss is long BBRY; Steve Weiss is long TBF; Steve Weiss is long LCC; Steve Weiss is short JCP; Brian Kelly is long TREASURIES; Brian Kelly is long GOLD; Brian Kelly is long SILVER; Brian Kelly is short COPPER; Brian Kelly is short S&P; Brian Kelly is short CAC; Brian Kelly is short DAX; Brian Kelly is short EUROSTOXX; Brian Kelly is short KOSPI.
