The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Wednesday of plans to sell the Government of Libya a package of "General Purpose Force Training" services worth $600 million.

Six thousand to 8,000 Libyan troops will be trained during a term of up to eight years as part of this package. In addition to the training services per se, the U.S. will supply Libya with 637 M4A4 carbines and ammunition for same, plus uniforms, other equipment, parts, and logistical support necessary for the training.

DSCA argues that this training is necessary to provide Libyan troops with the "basic, collective and advanced training" they need to establish "a professional and disciplined" military capable of "protecting Libya's institutions, facilities, and personnel, as well as keeping peace and security within Libya."

DSCA assured Congress that "there will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale." Nor will the continued training "alter the basic military balance in the region."

The principal contractors who will provide the services on behalf of the U.S. government "are unknown at this time but will be determined during the competitive bid process."

On Thursday's edition of Market Checkup, The Motley Fool's health-care focused show for investors, Fool health-care analyst David Williamson sheds some light on what's driving the biggest movers in the health-care space today.

Amgen has just released phase 3 data for its PCSK9 drug, AMG 145, and the results are impressive. Drugs that aim to block the PCSK9 enzyme have the potential to lower cholesterol levels in patients, and AMG 145 has met both of its phase 3 endpoints while remaining relatively well-tolerated by the trial patients. In a phase 2 trial, AMG 145, also called evolocumab, led to a 51% reduction in LDL levels, which rose to a 63% reduction when combined with a statin. David emphasizes just how much more effective this is than the currently available treatments on the market, and discusses why this drug could be a multi-billion dollar blockbuster. He also discusses some of Amgen's competitors, and tells investors who else could be affected as this drug potentially makes its way to market.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress Thursday of plans to sell the Iraqi Army as many as 500 AGM-114K/R Hellfire Missiles. Including the value of associated equipment, parts, training, and logistical support, this sale could be worth $82 million to Hellfire manufacturer and principal contractor Lockheed Martin .

As DSCA explained in its notice, the sale of these weapons "will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner" -- Iraq -- which is currently under attack by al-Qaeda elements infiltrating the company from war-torn Syria.

"Iraq will use the Hellfire missiles to help improve the Iraq Security Forces' capability to support current on-going ground operations," said DSCA. If any missiles are left over after these operations conclude, "Iraq will also use this capability in future contingency operations."

According to DSCA, "There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale." Nor will the sale "alter the basic military balance in the region." 

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

Stocks fell sharply today, with the Dow Jones Industrials hitting new lows for 2014 as news from China's manufacturing sector hinted at a possible reversal of the country's expansion. Yet, even the Dow's losses of more than 1% paled in comparison to the drops that Hercules Offshore , Arctic Cat , and Hill-Rom Holdings suffered today, with all three stocks falling by double-digit percentages.

Hercules Offshore fell 15% after getting downgraded by analysts at Global Hunter Securities. Unlike the deepwater-drilling segment, which has commanded huge dayrates from exploration and production companies eager to tap potentially game-changing finds in promising areas of the world, Hercules focuses on shallow-water drilling. That market is much more mature and has more competition, and weakness in the rates that producers are willing to pay for Hercules rigs in the Gulf of Mexico could continue to pressure its financial results this year.

Arctic Cat declined 11% after reporting a 32% drop in net income for its fiscal third quarter on revenue growth of 3.6%. Even though CEO Claude Jordan noted rising sales in its all-terrain vehicle and side-by-side segment, as well as strength in its parts, garments, and accessories business, lower gross margins weighed on the company's profitability. But the real problem came from the company's lowering its revenue and earnings guidance for the 2014 fiscal year, with a $0.37 per share drop in earnings guidance coming on a $14 million to $18 million reduction in guidance for sales. The company also expects further gross-margin decreases, which weighed on shareholder sentiment.

Hill-Rom Holdings plunged 16% after it said it would cut 350 jobs in response to earnings that fell 45% in its just-released fiscal first quarter. The medical-equipment maker also cut its guidance for the full year, weighing the impact of an 8% drop in revenue for the quarter that sent net income down by 45% from the year-ago quarter. Going forward, Hill-Rom reduced its earnings expectations by $0.23 to $0.25 per share, falling as much as 11% short of what investors had expected to see. In a tough environment for medical device makers, Hill-Rom could continue to see pressure in the future.

In the past, the trend in tech was smaller and smaller. Apparently, however, that trend is now reversing. Perhaps it started with Dr. Dre's Beats headphones? Wherever it started, the trend has made its way to smartphones, and even Apple  now may be joining in, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple has plans for two larger iPhones in 2014, one larger than 4.5 inches which is "further along in development, and is being prepared for mass production," and one larger than five inches that "is still in preliminary development," according to the WSJ. Will larger iPhone displays resonate with customers?

iPhone 5s displayed in Apple retail store.

First, let's take a look at the latest rumors for Apple's iPhones in 2015.

Summing up the latest iPhone 6 rumors
The rumor mill continues to suggest that Apple will launch a bifurcated iPhone lineup in 2014. Back in November, Bloomberg asserted that Apple was working on two larger iPhones, and now the WSJ says that "people familiar with the situation" are confirming that this is the case. But the Journal's new report adds a few new details for the rumor mill to chomp on.

• Contrary to what Bloomberg said in November, Apple will not use curved glass in the new iPhones, the WSJ asserts. Instead, the phones will "feature metal casings similar to what is used on the current iPhone 5s."
• Further, Apple "is expected to scrap the plastic exterior used in the iPhone 5c." The WSJ eludes that less-than-expected demand for the plastic phone could be the reason for this move.

A hot market for larger displays
While many current Apple customers may have a tough time imagining using a larger display like those found in Samsung's Galaxy lineup, there is an undeniable global market for the larger phone. In fact, of the estimated 251 million smartphones that shipped in Q3, 56 million had displays of five inches or larger, according to research firm Canalys. 

A move to larger iPhone displays echoes Apple's recent emphasis on the Chinese market with the China Mobile deal. Canalys predicts the Asia-Pacific region will lead global demand for large-display smartphones. One of the reasons consumers in this region appreciate larger smartphones, Canalys says, is because low home broadband penetration means Wi-Fi tablets are not always a feasible option. Consumers in the region, therefore, are resorting to larger smartphones, filling a tablet void while they're at it.

Canalys also predicts that in 2014, displays larger than Apple's current four-inch display will be the most popular worldwide, "as they offer the best balance of portability and crispness."

But what about the U.S. market?
The iPhone's smaller display size is more popular in the U.S. In fact, the iPhone alone accounted for 42% of the installed base of smartphones in Apple's domestic market in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to NPD. Even more, Apple's installed base in the U.S. is actually up seven percentage points from the year-ago quarter.

Considering that the U.S. is Apple's largest market, and that its Americas segment accounts for a whopping 37% of its revenue, a move to larger iPhone displays prompts an important question: Is Apple taking a risk by changing a proven formula? On the other hand, it's big leaps of evolution that have helped Apple succeed in the past, so maybe such a major change is the right thing to do.

What do you think? Does a larger iPhone make sense? Would you buy a larger iPhone?

The Department of Defense awarded seven defense contracts worth $209 million in combined value Thursday. Among the publicly traded companies winning contracts:

• Reliance Steel subsidiary Metals USA was awarded contract modification worth up to $99.2 million in exercise of the third and final one-year option period on a contract to keep the Defense Logistics Agency supplied with "various metal items" through Jan. 25, 2015.
• BAE Systems' Hawaii Shipyards division won a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $37.4 million to perform maintenance and upgrades on the guided missile destroyer USS Chung Hoon (DDG 93) while it is in dry-dock through August 2014.
• L-3 Communications was awarded a $17.6 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Navy with supplies and services associated with Surface Terminal Equipment for Hawklink Tactical Common Data Links (TCDL) and Vortex Mini-TCDL Shipset components in Littoral Combat Ship configurations as part of the Navy's Vertical Take-off and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Fire Scout MQ-8B/8C program. Work on this contract is now expected to be completed in December 2014.
• Huntington Ingalls' Newport News Shipbuilding division was awarded an unpriced contract action worth up to $9.8 million to begin accumulating parts necessary to supply the Navy with onboard repair parts for use aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), currently under construction. This contract will conclude in September 2014.

Markel is a small-specialty insurer with a superb record of underwriting and investing. Progressive  is at the heart of two long-term trends in auto insurance that could fuel growth for decades. Berkshire Hathaway is Warren Buffett's diversified conglomerate, but its insurance operations are the heart of the business. In this video, Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst Brendan Mathews explains why these three insurance stocks are his favorites for 2014 and beyond. 

Markel is well-known among insurance industry analysts and a favorite among longtime Fools, but for most investors, Markel is undiscovered territory. That's too bad, because the company has written insurance at an average combined ratio of 96 during the past 10 years. And, thanks to its Chief Investment Officer, Tom Gayner, the company has outpaced the S&P 500 by a full 2% annually during the past decade.

If you watch television, you've probably seen Progressive's commercials and spokeswomen, Flo. What you may not know is that Progressive is at the heart of two major structural changes in the auto insurance industry -- direct sales, and usage-based policies. These trends could fuel growth at this well-managed insurer for decades.

All investors should be familiar with Berkshire Hathaway, and it's outstanding collection of businesses from railroads to Dairy Queen. And, insurance is the engine that fuel's Warren Buffett's empire. The company is an outstanding underwriter, and it seems inevitable that GEICO will eventually surpass State Farm as the nation's number one auto insurer.

For over 40 years, Bed Bath & Beyond has withstood the test of time, standing strong against both economic downturns and fierce competition from its much larger peers. Despite these battles and their effects, Bed Bath & Beyond has successfully held itself together by relying on a broader and more diverse product assortment, competitive pricing techniques, and the company's culture. These efforts and improvements have provided the company with a strong market position, giving it greater momentum to press on in the retail industry. Investors in the company, or those considering making it part of their portfolios, should be aware of the company's biggest strengths.

Broad, diversified product selection
Since 2002, Bed Bath & Beyond has acquired five subsidiaries under its umbrella: Harmon Stores, Christmas Tree Shops, buybuy BABY, Cost Plus, and Linen Holdings, LLC. All of these subsidiaries have added further value and distinction to the company's large array of home goods products. Like Wal-Mart and Target , Bed Bath & Beyond provides products for the bedroom, bath, and kitchen along with home furnishings and baby accessories. What sets Bed Bath & Beyond apart from its peers is the sheer volume of options available to customers. These include a larger selection of brands, colors, styles, and textures to match all tastes.

If you've ever been into a Bed Bath & Beyond store, you know how packed full it is with different categories of products. You also understand how hard it can be to resist the temptation to purchase more than what you originally planned on buying. The way its products are presented to customers creates an immediate fascination and "wow" factor, stimulating the impulse reaction to purchase additional items. During the shopping experience, customers are surrounded by product displays and tables and shelving cases full of merchandise that reach as high as the ceiling in some areas of the store. It's no wonder that customers end up buying more than expected. Add in a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon and the price can't be beat. It would not be a stretch to say that Bed Bath & Beyond outmatches it competition by simply having more options for shoppers.

Competitive pricing strategy
Some would argue that Bed Bath & Beyond offers the lowest prices on home accessories, while others would argue that Amazon.com or Wal-Mart have the lowest prices out there. For years now, customers have been using Bed Bath & Beyond's stores as a "showroom" to test out and explore various products before searching for the same product on Amazon.com to compare prices. This is also the case for Best Buy stores where customers stop in to to fool around with the latest tablets, computers, electronics, and appliances before checking Amazon.com.

Analyst Brian Nagel of Oppenheimer compared products sold at both Bed Bath & Beyond and Amazon.com and found the results to be stunning. Amazon's prices came out to be 7% cheaper excluding sales tax and shipping charges. If customers shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond use the store's 20% off coupon, the item will actually cost around 15% less than it would on Amazon. So without a 20% off coupon, your best bet is to purchase the item on Amazon. Once sales tax and shipping charges are factored in, however, the item's price may break even with the price at Bed Bath & Beyond. Like most retailers, Bed Bath & Beyond monitors market prices on all of its items to make small adjustments and uses its 20% coupons to its advantage.

Always striving to be better
Bed Bath & Beyond highly values its company culture and product assortment throughout all of its stores. The company is continually making changes to the products it offers in order to keep up with the newest design trends, market conditions, and consumer interests. At the moment, Bed Bath & Beyond is working on improving its e-commerce business by devoting much of its resources in promoting its technology services to create an exciting shopping experience for its customers. Its investments in social media outlets and its e-commerce business will also allow the company to better compete with Amazon.com for sales. 

Bed Bath & Beyond is also expanding its product line to include a food and beverage merchandise section in many of its stores to better serve its customers' cravings.

Through its decentralized management approach, Bed Bath & Beyond is able to provide excellent customer service through hiring locals to manage its stores in one of its many locations. This allows associates to deliver the best expertise, assistance, and trendy products as these locals know what customers in that area want. Associates in all of its 1,478 stores also take part in monthly training classes to educate employees on the newest products and any details that come with it, so that customers will receive the information they need to make an informed purchase every time.

Constantly striving to provide a better customer experience and to improve one's product line is essential in the retail arena where another retailer can easily stock their shelves with the same products. This is why constantly striving to improve, and not remaining static and resting on ones laurels, is so important. This is an attribute that Bed Bath & Beyond certainly has, and the results show it. Just take a look at the company's return on equity and profit margins for the past three years:

Not only is Bed Bath & Beyond competing in the big leagues in terms of product pricing, but it is giving two of the largest retailers in North America a run for their money in terms of return on shareholders' equity and in net profit margin.

As you can see from the chart above, Bed Bath & Beyond received a higher return on equity as well as net profit margins for the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years. The company is also expected to beat Wal-Mart and Target again for the 2013 fiscal year in terms of having a better return on equity and higher net profit margins. Foolish investors don't have to look far with Bed Bath & Beyond to see that its organization is clearly doing something right.




Foolish takeaway
Investors looking to add Bed Bath & Beyond would be wise to explore additional metrics before making a decision. The company is taking the right steps to stay on pace with changing market trends while being proactive to ensure its product assortment exceeds beyond customer expectations. Through its pricing strategy and promotions, management culture, and the latest technology enhancements, Bed Bath & Beyond has proven it is a powerhouse. It is also willing to do whatever is required to be the "go to" retailer for home goods. Investors should keep a close eye on Bed Bath & Beyond as its company sales continue to flourish and its geographic expansion presses on in North America. 

BlackBerry Limited shareholders have been on a wild ride over the past year. The company's shares suffered a brutal loss over the first 10 months of 2013, losing roughly two-thirds of their value heading into Thanksgiving -- but something changed after everyone tucked away the turkey and polished off the last pie. Since the holiday season began in earnest, BlackBerry shares have gained two-thirds despite little in the way of genuine good news. Since last week, the stock has been on a tear, almost entirely because of a fairly modest Department of Defense report that noted support for "80,000 BlackBerry phones."

Source: User Prepayasyougo via Flickr.

Let's keep in mind that it was only one month ago that BlackBerry took a $1.6 billion pre-tax write-off for its third quarter on unsold BlackBerry 10 phones, and it was widely reported in October that the company could have a hoard of up to 10 million unsold BlackBerry 10s. What's 80,000 phones compared to that? About an eighth of a percent. That quarter, in which 250 million smartphones were sold around the world, BlackBerry sold 4.4 million -- half that of latecomer Microsoft.

The government's going to have to do a lot more to pull BlackBerry back up, since 80,000 new smartphone sales would only get the company about half a percent further back to its quarterly high-water mark of 14.9 million phone sales, set over two years ago and now rather out of reach:

Source: BlackBerry financial data (collected by Fool analyst Evan Niu) and Gartner.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the federal government had a workforce of 4.4 million people in 2011. State-level government employed another 3.8 million people full-time, and local government employees numbered 10.8 million people -- with the vast majority employed in education. There's clearly no need for many government employees to be given work-issued smartphones. Let's assume that perhaps 10% to 20% of these employees work jobs where information security is important enough for the government to hand out secured smartphones, as the Department of Defense has. That gives BlackBerry anywhere from 1.9 million to 3.8 million new sales, which are likely to be spread out over multiple quarters as the slow gears of government procurement grind into action. It's a start, but it's simply not enough.

What's left for BlackBerry, then? Barring a miraculous reversal in consumer attitudes toward the company's phones, government business seems like a much better long-term option. There are plenty of angles to take in government communications contracting that might play to the company's strengths, should BlackBerry decide to develop new products beyond its existing smartphone lineup. Two of the largest government communications-equipment contractors, Harris and Motorola Solutions show the relative stability of this market, but they don't exactly offer any reason for BlackBerry shareholders to start cheering:

BBRY Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts.

Harris presently trades at a P/E of 23.9, while Motorola boasts a more modest P/E of 16.4. To reach the midpoint of these two valuations -- a P/E of roughly 20.2 -- while sustaining its present market cap, BlackBerry would have to earn about $260 million in its upcoming fiscal year. That certainly seems reasonable, as it implies a much lower profit margin (3%) than either Harris' (6%) or Motorola's (13%). Of course, we have to stretch our assumptions pretty far to believe that a government that's been in belt-tightening mode for years would suddenly find the resources to sustain Harris, Motorola, and BlackBerry at their present (or higher) levels of revenue.

BlackBerry could find its way again, as a much smaller company than it once was, by catering to government needs with secure communications solutions. However, it seems ridiculous to expect the company to ever see substantial growth again if its primary customers are going to be government purchasing agents. In five years -- and this includes the immediate post-financial-crisis rebound period -- Harris' government-driven revenue has grown just 14%. That barely exceeds inflation growth of 10% during the same period. There might eventually reasons for speculators in BlackBerry's beaten-down stock to cheer, but government support isn't one of them.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

After focusing largely on earnings for the past week-and-a-half, the Dow Jones Industrials got a bucket of cold water thrown in its face on the global economic front. A poor reading on China's manufacturing sector suggested that the key emerging-market economy might see a contraction from the important industry, spooking investors who had thought that emerging markets might finally start to look healthier. That weighed on U.S. industrial giants Boeing and DuPont , each of which fell more than 2%, as well as some of the financial stocks in the Dow. But after the bell, Microsoft reported favorable earnings that could provide a bit of lift to the average Friday.

Boeing's drop coincided with its first bad news on the order-cancellation front this year. The aerospace giant said that it had three orders for 737 aircraft cancelled during the first three weeks of the year, offsetting new orders for 33 737s. For the most part, though, China's pullback should have only minimal impacts on Boeing, given that the company has profited from the specific improvement in the airline industry. As long as airlines look to boost their long-term profitability by replacing less efficient older aircraft with newer models, Boeing should be able to grow unless a slowdown in growth turns into an outright recession.

DuPont, on the other hand, is positioning itself to be much more dependent on favorable global economic conditions. As it moves to focus more on the agricultural chemical and products segment, DuPont needs to see emerging-market countries continue to improve their standards of living, and seek to diversify their food supplies in order to drive demand. If key economies start to reverse course and become less prosperous, it could put a stop to ag-product growth for DuPont and its peers.

Finally, Microsoft gained 0.3% in the regular session today, but it added more than 3% in after-hours trading after reporting an 11% jump in adjusted revenue that led to the tech giant beating earnings estimates by $0.10 per share. The company reported 3.9 million Xbox One sales for the quarter, with total hardware sales up 68%. Favorable results in commercial license revenue and the overall devices-and-consumer segment were particularly encouraging, with sales of its Surface tablet more than doubling from the prior quarter. With many continuing to write Microsoft off as a has-been in the technology industry, any positive results could send the stock higher.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis. 

While a slew of disappointing U.S. economic data sucked juice out of the broader market today, investors in three little stocks were left scratching their heads as the shares crashed for no apparent reason after rallying most days so far this year.

While shares of microturbine maker, Capstone Turbine shed 6% in early trading today, Revolution Lighting Technologies stock flickered out to give up 7% this morning. But China Ming Yang Wind Power Group turned out to be the real disaster today, with shares tumbling as much as 10% at one point in trading.

So was this just an unfortunate day for these stocks, or are their good days over?

Capstone looks safe
Despite today's fall, Capstone investors should be a happy lot because the stock still remains an outperformer -- until yesterday, the stock had zoomed a whopping 30% year to date. Capstone has already bagged several orders from markets across the globe this month, which seem to have convinced investors about the company's growth story. Important ones include orders from the lucrative and high-potential oil and gas sector, including those from leading companies operating in key regions such as Marcellus, Utica Shale, and Permian Basin.

With no adverse company news in sight, investors may have realized that all that good news may have already been baked into the price of Capstone's shares; therefore, they decided to take some profits off the table today. I don't think there's much to worry about here, since Capstone remains a compelling story, especially with global emission regulations getting stricter. With orders swelling, and top line growing at an accelerating pace, Capstone losses may soon turn around.

Nothing great about this revolution
Revolution Lighting's story, on the other hand, presents a completely different picture. The LED lighting solutions maker's last order is already more than a month old, and it has yet to open books this year. After gaining a staggering 400% in 2013, Revolution shares have cooled down, remaining flattish this month.

On a positive note, Revolution is spreading its wings to markets outside the U.S., while growing its base through acquisitions. Seesmart Technologies, which Revolution took over last year, is already adding great value to the company. But management is struggling to tame costs, and Revolution's losses are expanding. Moreover, LED lamps may have great prospects going forward, but it's a highly fragmented and competitive industry. With big names like Cree, Koninklijke Philips, and GE Lighting dominating the market, Revolution may have to create its own opportunities to get a foothold in the market.

Given the backdrop, last year's rally in Revolution's stock appears unwarranted. It seems to have turned into a trader's game, and today's fall only substantiates that. The shares took off yesterday, only to give up the gains today. Revolution is certainly not the brightest choice in the LED space for investors out there.

China Ming Yang just turned uglier
Unlike the other two stocks, China Ming Yang investors actually had a valid reason to dump the stock today. The just-released weak manufacturing data out of China could signal further economic slowdown, which naturally bodes ill for the company. Today's bad news wiped out most of the 12% year-to-date gains that China Ming Yang stock had clocked as of yesterday's close.

Like in Revolution Lighting's case, rising costs are eating into China Ming Yang's top line growth. Worse yet, management has no clue about when the company will expectedly break even. So investors practically have no way to assess where the company's headed to.

Bulls may be thriving on how China Ming Yang is rapidly gaining market share in the Chinese wind power market, but the company's global scene is nothing to write home about. Except for an order from India, it has little exposure to international markets. So if China slows down, China Ming Yang's growth could hit a wall. It looks dicey to me, and the shares could only get more volatile from here. Those with weak hearts should certainly stay away.

Radio stocks have been generating some extra attention recently. This was led by Sirius XM Holdings , which received a buyout offer from Liberty Media  (which is already a majority owner in the company).

Also of interest was the announcement by Pandora Media that it would launching a new in-car advertising service in January. CC Media Holdings' unit Clear Channel Media and Entertainment said that its iHeartRadio digital platform will now be included in Kia, Jaguar Land Rover, and Volvo vehicles as well.

iHeartRadio digital platform
New systems installed in vehicles will provide growth opportunities for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, offering potential listeners over 1,500 live radio stations from its service. Volvo vehicles are now outfitted with Sensus Connect, Jaguar Land Rover vehicles with Bosch SoftTec's InControl Apps platform, and Kia vehicles with UVO.

With the addition of iHeartRadio Talk, listeners will be able to access on-demand entertainment, talk, and news content. This should attract more users, which would generate revenue from the additional ads being listened to.  

Pandora's new advertising service
In January, Pandora will begin offering an in-car advertising service. It has already gained some respectability via its landing of the national brands Ford and Taco Bell. Marketers will be able to run 15- and 30-second audio spots on 130 different models.

Over the last six months, shares of Pandora have climbed about 38% as listening hours have jumped 13% year-over-year to 1.58 billion. The company reported that its number of active listeners has increased to 76.2 million, also gaining 13% over last year during the same period. Its U.S. radio market share rose to 8.6% in December, up from 7.6% in December 2012.

Pandora is still losing money, however, and will have to both lower costs and boost its per-unit ad revenue in order to turn profitable.

Liberty Media's Sirius XM offer
The big story in radio is of course the decision by majority owner Liberty Media to acquire the remaining shares of Sirius XM. In anticipation of a probable higher offer, shares of Sirius have been climbing.

According to Liberty CEO Greg Maffei, the reason for the offer is to tap into the cash of Sirus XM in order to finance other deals. Total cash for the company as of the most recent quarter is $720.47 million, with operating cash flow (trailing twelve months) of $1.04 billion.

The immediate significance of a deal will probably be an attempt by Liberty to acquire Time Warner Cable via Charter Communications , which is another of Liberty's holdings. Liberty Media acquired a 27.3% stake in Charter in the early part of 2013.

Time Warner Cable has continued to struggle after its battle with CBS over retransmission fees. Time Warner Cable had to capitulate when the fall sports season arrived, publicly weakening the company and its leadership.

An attractive element of Time Warner Cable is that it has a large footprint and no significant shareholder that could or would potentially disrupt the deal

On Charter Communication's side, it has little in the way of major competition from satellite and cable providers in the markets it serves. This provides it some cushion if it decides to go after Time Warner Cable.

There are concerns about the company's debt level and resultant interest expense, though. Macquarie believes that Charter would have to raise about $25 billion to bid for Time Warner Cable, which would add approximately $200 million in interest expenses for the new combined company.

Outlook
It's very interesting to see Sirius XM being considered a cash cow for use in financing other acquisitions. If Liberty Media does go ahead and acquire Sirius XM, it does point to concerns of taking the eye of the company's business and looking to it primarily as a bank.

Pandora Media and Clear Channel, on the other hand, continue to focus on growth. This is a result of both needing economies of scale to lower costs and boost per-unit ad revenue.

The crowded digital radio space continues to grow. Until there is some significant consolidation, I would be cautious about putting a lot of money into these radio stocks. Pandora has some potential, but I would like to see it gain market share before committing to it.

Raytheon has agreed to sell the Sultanate of Oman a ground-based air defense system worth $1.28 billion, the company announced Thursday.

The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), which Raytheon describes as "a highly adaptable mid-range... state-of-the-art defense system" equally capable of shooting down hostile aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and missiles, is the same system that protects Washington, D.C. from air attacks. Finland, Norway, The Netherlands, Spain, and a fifth country (which prefers not to publicize its possession of the system), also use NASAMS for their national defense.

In addition to NASAMS per se, Raytheon says it is also providing Oman ground support equipment, a full training package, and technical assistance necessary to operate the system. 

Follow @mthalman5513

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

The major indexes and stock market, in general, had a very poor day today, but two of the Dow Jones Industrial Average's components bucked that trend, while another ended just slightly higher during the regular trading session but soared in the after-hours period. Let's take a moment and see what was going on today.

Shares of AT&T and Verizon rose an astonishing 1.38% and 1.12%, respectively, today despite being two of only seven Dow components ending the day in the black. The index itself lost more than 175 points today, or 1.07%. The likely cause for the move higher was an announcement made yesterday by AT&T that it would be reporting a non-cash gain of $7.6 billion from its pension plan due to better-than-expected performance of the company's pension during 2013. Verizon recently reported a similar event when it said that it would report a $6 billion gain from its pension obligation. What this essentially means is that the amount each company will need to add to its employee's pension funds has just dropped by a massive amount, and thus, more money can be used for business operations, or given back to shareholders. 

Another Dow component that finished in the black, but then really took off during the after-hours session, was Microsoft , which was trading up 3.51% in the extended trading session this evening at 8 p.m. EST after finishing the regular trading period up 0.35%. The reason for the big jump in the extended period was the company's earnings report. Big Softy reported earnings per share of $0.78 on revenue of $24.52 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $0.68 on revenue of $23.44 billion. The much-better-than-expected results were great to see, but many investors were hoping management would have more to report along the lines of who may be taking over for the retiring Steve Ballmer. The company did not discuss this at all during the conference call. 

Another big winner in the after-hours session was Starbucks , which closed the regular trading day down 0.29%, but ended the extended period up 1.1%. The move was, again, the result of a better-than-expected earnings report. Starbucks posted earnings per share of $0.71 for the quarter, much better than the $0.57 it reported a year ago, and higher than the $0.69 analysts were expecting. On the revenue side, Starbucks reported $4.24 billion in sales, again much higher than the $3.79 billion last year, but slightly lower than the $4.3 billion Wall Street was looking for. But on a same-store sales basis, the company saw a 5% increase both in the Americas and internationally, while operating margins climbed from 16.6% to an impressive 19.2%. Despite the slight miss on revenue, the report seemed to be very strong. 

Don't gamble with your future, invest in it

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

Stocks tumbled today as a report out of China showing that manufacturing activity contracted spooked investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 176 points, or 1.1%, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both dropped more than 0.5%. What pushed stocks down was a reading of 49.6 in a Chinese Purchasing Manufacturing Index, showing manufacturing declined slightly, the first time it's done so in six months in the world's second largest economy. Back home, the day's economic data came in essentially even with expectations as initial unemployment claims totaled 326,000 last week, and existing home sales numbered 4.87 million in December.

Meanwhile, earnings season continued to march on. Among the big names reporting results after hours was Starbucks , which was trading roughly flat following the session as it beat earnings expectations but missed on sales. The coffee king saw per-share profit jump 25%, to $0.71, on estimates of $0.69, while sales improved 11.8%, to $4.24 billion, but that was short of the consensus at $4.29 billion. Comparable sales were up 5%, and jumped 8% in its China/Asia Pacific region. CEO Howard Schultz noted that, despite a weak holiday season for retailers, "Starbucks' unique combination of physical and digital assets positions us as one of the very few consumer brands with a national and global footprint to benefit from the seismic shift underway." For the full year, Starbucks sees earnings of $2.59-$2.67, and revenue growth of 10% or more. Analysts project full-year earnings of $2.65. The global coffee chain had recently seen torrid growth for a company its size, as shares jumped 50% last year; but that growth seems fully priced in at this point as the stock trades at a forward P/E of 28.

This morning, rival McDonald's provided its own quarterly earnings report, finishing up 0.5% as a result. Still, it wasn't a particularly impressive report for the Golden Arches as the company admitted to having a "customer relevance" problem. U.S. same-stores fell 0.2% for 2013 on a 1.6% decline in traffic, and those figures were only marginally better globally. CEO Don Thompson conceded that 2013 was a "challenging year." Figures for the fourth quarter were similar, as comps fell 1.4% in the U.S., but grew 1% in Europe, and the company said January comps were tracking flat. Earnings per share beat estimates by $0.01, while revenue grew just 2% to $7.09 billion, falling slightly short of expectations.

However, what was perhaps most striking about McDonald's earnings release was not in the numbers, it was the way management avoided talking about food in lieu of bland business boilerplate. The company has struggled under Thompson, and it doesn't seem like a surprise given meaningless statements like this: "We begin 2014 with a renewed focus on the global growth priorities that are most impactful to our customers. We are uniting consumer insights with innovation and consistent execution to optimize our menu, modernize the customer experience and broaden accessibility to Brand McDonald's." I'm not sure what optimizing the menu, or uniting consumer insights means, but at a time when fast-casual stars like Chipotle are stealing business from McDonald's by simply cooking good, fresh food, it seems like McDonald's desperately needs to step up its product quality and take a page from its rival's playbook.

Travelzoo is a considerably smaller online travel company relative to its peers Priceline.com and Expedia . While many remain optimistic of the company's future, a simple comparison highlights problems that investors should consider before buying the stock.

Growth remains an issue
With 12-month revenue of nearly $160 million, Travelzoo is a fraction the size of its peers Expedia and Priceline.com. Given its size, and niche market to provide deal packages to customers, Travelzoo should be growing rapidly, with a large market to monetize and a large network.

The global online travel industry is growing at a rate of about 20% annually. Hence, it is still a growth industry.

If we look at the two leaders, Expedia grew 18% last year and is expected to grow another 14% in 2014. Thus, Expedia is growing at the rate of industry expansion.

Then, Priceline.com grew an incredible 28.6% last year and is expected to grow another 24% this year.

Therefore, with Priceline.com exceeding industry growth with revenue of nearly $6.5 billion in the last year, its market share consistently increases. Yet, because of Expedia's growth, it has only maintained its market share, meaning that Priceline.com's market share gains are coming from other, and smaller, online travel providers.

Travelzoo is one of those companies that is growing but far below the rate of industry expansion. In the company's fourth quarter, its sales totaled just $37.5 million for a growth rate of only 1.4%. Surprisingly, the stock traded higher on this performance, but nonetheless, Travelzoo's lack of top-line growth remains a key issue looking forward

What about valuation?
As previously said, Travelzoo traded higher after reporting earnings, and what makes this surprising is that the stock is not cheap.

Travelzoo trades at 20 times next year's earnings and 2.3 times sales. When you consider the valuations of other Internet-based companies you might think that Travelzoo is presenting value. However, it is important to remember that Travelzoo lacks the growth that we've come to expect with Internet companies like Priceline.com, Yelp, or Zillow. Take a look at how it compares from a valuation stance to its two larger peers.

In regards to Priceline.com let's just go ahead and say that it is well deserving of its premium multiple. Yes, Priceline.com is more expensive than Expedia or Travelzoo relative to earnings and sales, but is also growing considerably faster and is much more effective.

Priceline.com has an unprecedented operating margin of 36%, and this stems from the company's ability to make wise and lucrative investments. As a result, the company's return on equity is 35.7%, which compares favorably to Expedia's 5% return on equity, thus showing the wide operating disconnect between Priceline.com and everyone else in the industry.

Then, we have Expedia, and as already established, it is growing significantly faster than Travelzoo but is a cheaper stock! The only way to explain this fact is to say that the market incorrectly valued these two companies. Expedia should clearly trade at a premium to Travelzoo but does not, and this indicates that Travelzoo is not a buy following earnings and that Expedia might present investment value.

Final thoughts
As an investor, one of the best things you can do is to compare and contrast the fundamental performance and valuation of companies within a particular industry.

This strategy is the best way to identify inconsistencies, which can then unmask value opportunities. With that said, given Travelzoo's lack of growth and valuation premium, it's hard to find a reason to buy, much less explain why it's trading higher following earnings.

In regards to Priceline.com and Expedia, both appear to be valued attractively given the growth and operating efficiencies of both respective companies. Expedia definitely has the most room to improve, both in market share and in the efficiency of its business. Hence, given its discount to Priceline.com, investors might find Expedia a good long-term opportunity.

Regardless, the one thing we can say with certainty is that Travelzoo is not on the same level, which doesn't make it a bad company...but doesn't make it a good company either.

Fellow Fool contributor Timothy Green believes that NVIDIA could score a GPU IP licensing win within Apple's next-generation iPad. Green lays out a compelling case, claiming that because Apple tends to care a ton about GPU performance, it could very well license NVIDIA's GPU technology and integrate it into its A-series system-on-chip designs.

Unfortunately, as nice as this would be for NVIDIA shareholders from a publicity perspective -- the actual royalties would probably amount to maybe $20-40 million, depending on the royalty rate -- this is exceptionally unlikely.

Apple uses its Imagination
Apple's GPU IP supplier for many years has been U.K.-based Imagination Technologies . Over the years, Imagination has gone from a small GPU vendor that was marginalized in the PC graphics wars to the world's leading vendor of GPU IP for all sorts of devices -- in particular, low-power applications such as smartphones and tablets. Since that time, Imagination's designs have been well-known for having great performance in a very small footprint in both power and area.

Apple, which actually owns a roughly 10% stake in the IP company, has frequently been an early adopter of Imagination's PowerVR designs. This has allowed Apple to routinely launch phones and tablets with bleeding-edge graphics performance well before many of its competitors. Further, at Imagination's most recent earnings call, management pointed out that the company would be moving faster in developing new iterations of its GPU IP:

Source: Imagination Technologies

Apple has traditionally used Imagination Tech's GPUs, and its driver teams and iOS-optimization teams have extensive experience with Imagination's GPUs. A move to another third-party architecture, such as NVIDIA's Kepler or upcoming Maxwell, wouldn't be impossible, but it would require some pretty serious incentive to do so that may not be there.

Apple is doing its own GPU, anyway
While some may argue that NVIDIA's advances over time may ultimately push Apple to go with NVIDIA's GPU IP, it's important to note that Apple is actually building its own GPU. This GPU, like Apple's custom SoCs and CPU cores, is likely to be custom-tailored to exactly what Apple is looking for. Given that Apple is already a silicon powerhouse, and also that Apple is also a software and user-experience master, the case for going with a custom GPU is pretty clear.

This means that Imagination is at serious risk of losing the Apple account in the longer term, but also that NVIDIA's chances of finding a home within the iPad are pretty minimal. It's not inconceivable to think that NVIDIA could license its GPU IP to other merchant vendors, although it's likely that NVIDIA's intention is to go after either Apple or Samsung, where its Tegra chips are unlikely to play. But the royalties received per unit would be far lower than the gross profit per Tegra chip.

Foolish bottom line
While the idea of NVIDIA winning the GPU IP slot over at Apple is nice, Apple is doing its own GPU for the long term, and in the near term is likely to stick with Imagination's IP. That said, while Apple is unlikely to license NVIDIA's GPU designs, it very well could license its patent portfolio in order to make life easier when trying to design its own high-performance GPU. 

For some time, broadcasters and cable outlets have been searching for ways to access user-generated video in a way that they can trust. Disney's ABC News has found at least part of the answer in its latest deal with Storyful, which is essentially an extension of an existing partnership.

Storyful is a relatively new business model where the company uses its expertise to source and verify video produced in the social media space. This allows media outlets to have the confidence to release these videos as part of a breaking news story. The company has been in business for about five years.

Perhaps the best example for the most visible coverage resulting from the partnership is in regard to the typhoon that hit the Philippines in 2013. With little in the way of boots on the ground, ABC News was able to provide full coverage of the story with accompanying video. Confirmation and verification of the sources of video content made this possible for the news agency.

Storyful acquired by News Corp.
It was an excellent decision by News Corp. to acquire Storyful for $25 million. The company now has the resources to scale out much quicker in what will become a crowded market.

The market was waiting to see what News Corp. would do after being spun off from what is now 21st Century Fox . Remaining with 21st Century Fox was the more lucrative broadcasting, cable, and film divisions. For News Corp., it is primarily considered an old-school newspaper business, and it includes the storied Wall Street Journal under its corporate umbrella. That has translated to a solid digital pay wall business model for the Journal.

That is the crown jewel of the new News Corp., and it needed to add something to get investors excited. Storyful is just what was needed to generate interest and to show the direction the company is going to take in the future.

Most investors understand that the print business is declining, and as a result new strategies and acquisitions were needed to differentiate and reveal its future strategy. Storyful will not only reinforce the digital strategy of News Corp., but will also create a new income stream by selling its services to competitors of the company. That's what has happened with ABC News, and it will expand in the future. It's also likely that 21st Century Fox could use Storyful to bolster its news content as well.

Boosting mature print businesses
The New York Times is a good example of the attraction that a company like Storyful has to a mature industry. In 2011, the Times partnered with Storyful and YouTube to put together a group of videos for the purpose of getting thoughts and recollections of the 9/11 tragedy in 2001.

You can see how something like this can drastically change the perception of an older company like The New York Times while also generating interest in its digital properties.

Temporary and longer-term deals like this will increase for Storyful going forward. Companies using these types of services should be able to stand out and offer video content beyond what their competitors feature. Storyful is quickly becoming the biggest and most noted player in the space, and that is good for News Corp.

Outlook
The acquisition of Storyful by News Corp. has put the company and its services on a much larger map. Even though it has competitors like Storify, I see News Corp. taking it and scaling it out quickly to gain market share to expand the size of the market it serves.

Media companies are looking for a service like this to make up for the shrinking workforce that they can afford to maintain. Providing trusted video content at a good price will be a terrific business for many years.

Print media companies have been working hard to migrate to digital platforms. Being able to pay for the vetting and sourcing of user-generated video content will help them to make the move much quicker and more efficiently.

Since being spun off, News Corp. is now a much smaller business with a market cap of about $10 billion. This means that any new business that can generate decent revenue and earnings has a good chance of moving the share price. It has found that in Storyful, and that should give a good boost to the company once the potential of the business is understood and appreciated by investors.

This segment is from Thursday's edition of "Digging for Value," in which sector analysts Joel South and Taylor Muckerman discuss energy and materials news with host Alison Southwick. The twice-weekly show can be viewed on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It can also be found on Twitter, along with our extended coverage of the energy & materials sectors @TMFEnergy.

Gold investors experienced a year unlike one presented to them in more than a decade as 2013 unfolded. The price of the precious metal absolutely cratered. Despite the plunge, it remains a hot topic among global investors. In the following short clip, our analysts give their opinions on how gold might fare in 2014... and beyond.

There are very few questions about this company in 2014

I, Frankenstein is stumbling out of the gate. Image source: Lions Gate

Frankenstein's monster has no problem conquering demons and gargoyles in his latest theatrical incarnation. But tackling the box office is an entirely different beast.

That's not to say there weren't high hopes driving the debut of I, Frankenstein this weekend; Lakeshore Entertainment financed the bulk of its $65 million production budget, and consumers have endured a massive marketing push from distributor Lions Gate over the past several weeks. But the action-horror film still only mustered a paltry $2.82 million in gross ticket sales Friday night.

As a result, if I, Frankenstein achieves a similar Friday-weekend ratio as Lakeshore's most recent Underworld film two Januaries ago, it could have trouble grossing $9 million when all is said and done this weekend. That's well below already-low initial expectations for a $10 million to $12 million weekend debut.

But it's also not as though anyone expected I, Frankenstein to win. After all, Comcast Universal's Ride Along set a new January debut record by pulling in $41.5 million last weekend. What's more, Comcast just decided to increase the theater count for Lone Survivor from 2,989 to 3,160, after the heartwrenching war film gathered an impressive $22.1 million in its third weekend.

Ride Along and Lone Survivor should win again this weekend, Image source: Comcast Universal

Sure enough, Ride Along managed to gross another $6.3 million yesterday, putting it on pace for a solid second-weekend gross between $18 million and $19 million. All told, that would bring Ride Along's domestic total to $73 million, or nearly triple Comcast's modest $25 million budget.

Meanwhile, Lone Survivor hauled in another $3.6 million, which means it could possibly exceed the $12 million mark if it enjoys another typical strong late-weekend push. Come Monday, Lone Survivor will have likely exceeded the $90 million mark from stateside sales alone, more than doubling its $40 million budget.

Next, Viacom Paramount's Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit nipped at I, Frankenstein's heels yesterday, earning a little over $2.6 million and putting itself on pace for a second weekend total around $7.6 million. Keep in mind, however, Viacom spent a whopping $60 million producing the Tom Clancy-based movie, which has only grossed around $24 million in the U.S. so far. Lucky for them, the character apparently still boasts some appeal with overseas movie-goers, who have accounted for another $22.2 million in ticket sales to date.

Finally, let's not forget Open Road Films' first animated movie The Nut Job, which grabbed another $2.3 million on its second Friday and pushed its domestic total over $30 million. And though it's technically trailing both Shadow Recruit and I, Frankenstein for now, keep in mind The Nut Job largely enjoys a captive family audience as the most recent animated film to hit theaters since Disney's Frozen back in November. As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if The Nut Job approaches the $10 million mark this weekend.

I'll be sure to touch base once the final numbers roll in. But given the threat of losing to three holdovers in its debut, at this point I, Frankenstein looks absolutely dead in the water.