"The organic food industry is surprisingly resilient in an economic downturn," explains Benjamin Shepard, contributing editor with Personal Finance.

He adds, "Mainstream retailers and your corner grocer have been embracing the trend, devoting an ever-growing amount of shelf space to organic foods." Here's a trio of favorites.

"What was essentially a nascent industry in 1997 with $3.6 billion in sales has exploded to a behemoth with almost $14 billion in sales in 2006, according to the Organic Trade Association.

"And barring a major economic disaster worse than we've seen thus far, the industry looks set to continue double-digit growth well into the next decade.

"That's not to say there aren't potential troubles ahead as commodity prices continue to soar. Organic farming techniques tend to be more cost intensive--ironically enough--and transport costs continue to swell.

"But so far the industry has been able to pass the bulk of the higher costs onto consumers, and although sales volumes have dropped off and profits are down, those consumers are as dedicated as ever.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Monster Worldwide (MNST) and Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) were today's most notable initiations:

• The Bank of America initiated Monster Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ:MNST) with a Buy rating and $57 target; they believe the market has underestimated Monster's long-term growth potential and is overly focused on near-term margins.
• Janco started Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRI) with a Market Perform rating and $3.80 target, expecting competitor XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) to appreciate more than Sirius once investors regain confidence in XM's management and OEM support.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $36 target at Piper Jaffray; they believe shares should trade at a slight discount to peers and are particularly cautious regarding near-term share losses and slower-than-expected ramping of WCDMA.
• Pacific Growth initiated Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) with a Buy rating and $50 target, as they expect upcoming catalysts that should include Chinese 3G licenses and share gains in WDCMA chipset market.
• Credit Suisse initiated Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) with a Neutral rating.
• UBS started United Natural Foods Inc. (NASDAQ:UNFI) with a Buy rating and $44 target.

Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).