"One of the best inflationary hedges of the 20th century is often forgotten -- timber," suggests Larry Spears.

The contributing editor to Money Morning explains, "In the modern era, inflation has never been a match for timber. On average, the price of harvested lumber itself has risen more than 5% annually over the past 100 years.

"Since 1910, the value of timberland as an investment has risen faster - and with less volatility - than stocks as measured by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Here's a trio of stocks to benefit from this trend.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Medarex Inc (NASDAQ: MEDX) was initiated with a Positive rating at Susquehanna. The firm said Medarex has multiple drivers include a potential buyout by one of its existing partners, as well as clinical progress and the success of its technology platform in monoclonal antibody therapeutics.
• Susquehanna also initiated shares of Dyax Corporation (NASDAQ: DYAX), Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: MLNM), and Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (AMEX: IDP) with Neutral ratings and Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) and Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc (NASDAQ: COLY) with Positive ratings.
• Rayonier Inc (NYSE: RYN), Plum Creek Timber Company Inc (NYSE: PCL) and Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY) were initiated with Buy ratings at Merrill Lynch.
• Kona Grill was initiated with an Outperform rating at Cowen. The firm believes Kona can grow its asset base 10-fold at strong store-level cash-on-cash ROICs.

• Jefferies initiated shares of Input/Output Inc (NYSE: IO) with a Buy rating and $19 target.
• Goldman Sachs initiated shares of Minerals Technologies Inc (NYSE: MTX) with a Buy rating and $80 target.
• JP Morgan initiated shares of Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OREX) with an Overweight rating and is positive on the company's obesity pipeline.