Surviving this recession is foremost on peoples' minds, but giving to charity is especially important in times like these. So how can you effectively give while preserving your net worth?

If you plan on liquidating any profitable, or taxable, positions in the stock market thanks to the current uptrend and also want to give to your favorite charity, the strategy outlined below is key to optimizing your gift, as well as your capital.

Though giving cash to causes is the most popular form of charity, desperate times call for creative measures, and any type of gift will be gladly accepted. By giving stock directly to charity, and bear in mind that the stock must be in your portfolio for one year or more as short-term capital gains are not applicable, you not only avoid capital gains taxes on your gains, but you can actually use the gift of your stock as a tax deduction. Hence, the cost of your gift is lower than giving cash directly. Think of it as an overall investment for yourself and the charity.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Third Wave, DryShips and Hil-Rom Holdings were among today's noteworthy initiations:

• Third Wave (NASDAQ: TWTI) was initiated with a Buy, target $12 at Deutsche which said the company is compelling small-cap opportunity in molecular diagnostics with an $1B-plus opportunity in the HPV market.
  
• DryShips (NASDAQ: DRYS) was initiated with an Outperform, target $110 at Credit Suisse, which is positive on the company's growth opportunity and is bullish on dry bulk rates into 2009.
  
• Hil-Rom Holdings (NYSE: HRC) was initiated with an Outperform at Oppenheimer which believes 2H08 will be an inflection point for Hill-Rom, with revenue, margin expansion, and earnings growth all beginning to accelerate. The firm believes that the company's performance will improve due to its efforts to complete spending on R&D, reinvigorate its brand, and find low-cost sourcing and manufacturing alternatives.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Imperial Tobacco (NYSE: ITY) coverage was resumed with a Buy at Merrill Lynch.
  
• ICU Medical (NASDAQ: ICUI) was initiated with a Buy, target $35 at Jesup & Lamont, which is positive on the company's valuation, strong balance sheet, growth in oncology and expectations for gross margin improvement.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Mako Surgical, ArcSight and ICU Medical were today's noteworthy initiations:

• Mako Surgical (NASDAQ: MAKO) was initiated with an Overweight rating at JP Morgan. The firm believes Mako has the most compelling system for navigated, robotic assisted orthopedic surgery to date.
  
• After ArcSight (NASDAQ: ARST) reported better-than-expected results for its Q3 and guidance for Q4 that Wachovia views as positive, the firm, which initiated shares with an Outperform rating, expects that regulatory compliance initiatives such as SOX will help protect the company from the slowdown, and help result in upward revisions to Wachovia's estimates in the future, as well as margin expansion.
  
• Soleil believes ICU Medical's (NASDAQ: ICUI) close distributor relationship with Hospira (NYSE: HSP) will drive its CLAVE/Custom IV franchises. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $33 target.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Bear initiated Journal Comm (NYSE: JRN) with an Outperform rating and $10.25 target.
  
• Royal KPN (NYSE: KPN) was initiated at Societe Generale with a Sell rating.
  
• Broadpoint assumed Nuance Comm (NASDAQ: NUAN) with a Buy rating and $22 target.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: The semiconductor sector, Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) and Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM) were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Bernstein upgraded the semiconductor sector to Overweight form Market Weight on expectations that utilization will rise starting in Q2. The firm upgraded ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ: ASML) to Outperform from Market Perform and Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) to Market Perform from Underperform.
• UBS upgraded Quest Diagnostics to Buy from Neutral, citing Laboratory Corporation Of America Holdings' (NYSE: LH) contract renewal with Cigna HealthCare, which should ease concerns regarding deteriorating pricing.
• Fannie Mae was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, citing improving fundamentals, better business mix and the possibility the company reports current financials in the next 12-18 months.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Mediacom Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: MCCC) was upgraded to Neutral at Pali Capital, as the firm does not see a major catalyst to drive down shares.
• Soleil upgraded shares of ICU Medical Inc (NASDAQ: ICUI) to Buy from Hold.
• DynCorp International Inc (NYSE: DCP) was upgraded to Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC World Markets.
• CIBC also upgraded shares of Radware Limited (NASDAQ: RDWR) to Outperformer from Sector Performer.

The accidental transmission of infections is a big day-to-day problem for hospital personnel. There is an outfit in San Clemente, California that makes devices designed to avoid one of the major sources of the problem.

ICU Medical (NASDAQ: ICUI) provides disposable medical connection systems for use in intravenous (IV) therapy applications. Its products prevent accidental IV disconnects, protect patients from catheter related bloodstream infections and guard healthcare workers from exposure to infectious diseases through accidental needle sticks. The firm also manufactures various critical care products, including pressure monitoring devices, blood sampling systems, cardiac monitoring systems and angiography kits, under an agreement with Hospira (NYSE: HSP). Baxter International (NYSE: BAX) is a major competitor.

The company pleased investors last week, when it reported Q1 EPS of 63 cents. Analysts had been expecting 44 cents. Revenues rose 0.2 percent (yr/yr) to $48.8 million. Management also guided FY07 EPS to $1.97 ($1.79 consensus) and FY07 revenues to $206.0 million ($205.9M consensus). Gross margins rose to 39%, from 33% in Q4. ICUI shares popped above 200-day moving average support on the news and are now forming a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.