Actor Michael B. Jordan has been making quite a name for himself lately, and he's done it without reading a single line. The Chronicle actor set the Internet aflame when he was announced as the new Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch) in the upcoming "Fantastic Four" reboot from 21st Century Fox . Jordan has taken the criticisms in stride, telling TMZ "They're still going to go see it anyway" when questioned about the complaints surrounding his casting.

The Fantastic Four's Baxter Building may not be the only superhero hangout that Jordan will be visiting in the coming years, however. According to recent rumors, the actor has also met with director Zack Snyder concerning a potential role in the upcoming "Batman vs. Superman" film from Time Warner's Warner Bros. studio.

Holy superhero shenanigans, Batman!
If the potential casting rumor proves true, Jordan would have a small part in "Batman vs. Superman," which would expand into a larger part in future DC Comics movies such as the upcoming "Justice League" film. According to the Latino Review report, the studio is looking for "a black actor in his early 20s who is also physically fit." Jordan is 27, but the production is supposedly working from short lists of actors instead of hosting large casting calls. If he has met with Snyder then it's likely that the "early 20s" specification wasn't a dealbreaker.

Who will he play?
Assuming that Jordan does take a role in "Batman vs. Superman," there are two main possibilities concerning the character he would play. The first is Victor Stone, who after an accident involving a failed dimensional travel experiment is transformed by his father into the hero known as Cyborg to save his life. The other is John Stewart, the third person from Earth to be selected by the Guardians as a Green Lantern (originally serving as a backup to Hal Jordan, who was previously played on the big screen by Ryan Reynolds).

Both options have a little bit of weight behind them. Previous rumors indicated that actors were being sought for the John Stewart role, replacing Hal Jordan in the new DC cinematic continuity. As for Cyborg, Jordan already has some experience with the character: he provided the voice for him in the animated Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox that was released last year.

Of the two, the Cyborg role seems a bit more likely than the Green Lantern due to the rumored desire to have a young actor play the part. While much of the casting has skewed a little young (with Ben Affleck being the biggest exception), Victor Stone was in his late teens when he became Cyborg while John Stewart was an architect and Marine veteran. An "early 20s" actor seems a bit young to fit Stewart's qualifications, but adjusting Stone's origins to make him a college student would work quite well. Of course, it's possible that he would play a different character entirely, perhaps even a traditionally white character such as Dick Grayson or one of the other Robins.

So is it true?
The original source of the rumor is Latino Review, which has had both hits and misses when it comes to film rumors. It's possible that the rumors are true and Michael B. Jordan is set to take a recurring role in the DC cinematic universe in addition to his duties with the Fantastic Four, but it's best to wait for confirmation before getting too excited about the casting decision. A good rule to follow is to assume that everything is just a rumor until it has been officially announced by the studio.

Should the rumor prove true, however, the new role will likely be accepted much more easily than the Human Torch casting was. Of course, the big question is whether Jordan would even be able to fit an additional series of films into his schedule. In addition to Fantastic Four and any sequels that may follow, it's also been announced that he will play Apollo Creed's grandson in the Rocky spinoff Creed, which may launch one or more sequels as well if it proves popular.

The rumor could be interesting if true, regardless of which character he plays. For now, though, it's worth waiting for more information.

Source: Exelon. 

Exelon is off to a roaring start for 2014. After falling significantly at the end of April of last year, Exelon stock is already up 11% this year. But as the biggest nuclear user around, Exelon still has plenty of enemies. Here are the utility's three worst nightmares.

1. Cheap natural gas
Exelon owns 19,000 megawatts of nuclear generating capacity -- that's equal to 4% of the United States' entire generation fleet. But despite the company's scale, a booming natural gas revolution has left nuclear costs uncompetitive. As Exelon stock suffered, natural gas companies such as Spectra Energy and its master limited partnership Spectra Energy Partners have seen shares skyrocket.

SE data by YCharts.

Spectra Energy and Spectra Energy Partners are loading the East Coast with natural gas pipelines, moving to exploit a competitive edge against relatively expensive Appalachian coal. .

Nuclear has been put in a tough spot here, too. Whhen Entergy announced that it would close its 604-megawatt Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, the forward basis swap for natural gas prices shot up 7% for the month the plant will breathe its last breath, showing how easily investors can switch sides to natural gas.

Spectra Energy and Spectra Energy Partners both exceeded expectations on their latest quarterly earnings, and recently received full approval to partner with NextEra Energy to install Florida's third major natural gas pipeline at a cost of $3 billion. With a whopping $25 billion in near- to midterm growth projects lined up, booming natural gas infrastructure at competitive prices is a nuclear nightmare.

2. Wind energy

Source: NextEra Energy. .

Over in the Midwest, wind power is blowing in trouble for Exelon stock. Despite owning 44 wind projects totaling 1,300 megawatts of capacity, Exelon  has opposed production tax credits that wind-centric utilities such as NextEra Energy have been fighting for all along. Wind is booming in the region, where NextEra Energy is pushing out wind power from facilities across Iowa and the Dakotas.

Source: NextEra Energy Wind Farms.

Exelon is competing in many of the same markets as wind, and the double trouble of cheap natural gas and government-supported wind energy has pushed electricity prices down 40% since 2008.

3. Clean coal

Source: Southern. 

Since the Obama administration announced a series of new air emissions standards, utilities have been closing coal plants left and right to exit before the 2016 deadline lays down steep fines for noncompliance. From 2012 to 2016, utilities have already reported 40,000 megawatts of retired coal capacity, with government estimates predicting actual closures closer to 60,000 MW.

But some companies are holding out, pushing for "clean coal" facilities that could keep this fuel within the lines of the Environmental Protection Agency's new standards. Southern has poured the most money into the initiative, shelling out more than $5 billion to get its 582-megawatt Kemper County, Miss., facility up and running.

The project is 65% over budget and construction continues to be delayed, but Southern is determined to bring coal back from the brink. This is understandable, considering that natural gas profit clocks in at $3.04 per megawatt-hour, compared to $31.58 for coal, according to Bloomberg estimates. While the Department of Energy estimates that clean coal is twice as expensive as conventional coal, the numbers could still keep profit well above what Exelon could hope to nab from nuclear.

Earlier this month, Elon Musk and JB Straubel, respectively CEO and CTO of Tesla Motors, visited Europe for a few meetings with owners of the Model S. We learned about a few interesting new features included in the upcoming update of the Model S software and general guidelines for the future of the company, but something in particular caught my attention during the meeting in Amsterdam. Someone asked a few questions about energy storage for home usage. The person was quite insistent and got the two executives talking on the subject. 

Tesla didn't build the Model S with the capacity to send power to your house. The car can receive electricity from your home, but not the other way around. It is a little-known fact that Tesla's first car, the Roadster, had that capability built in, but the Roadster was a sport car, more likely to spend more time in the garage and add less mileage to the meter. The Model S, however, is a completely different vehicle, and it is being mostly used as a commuter.

Some Model S owners have been pushing Tesla to enable the capability, assuming it's a matter of software, but that's only an assumption, since such a feature could also require additional hardware. The appeal of a home energy storage system is obvious for its usefulness in a power outage situation to provide power for your basic needs, but most people are interested in the product for the opportunity to save money on their utility bill.

From SolarCity's website:

An additional benefit of energy storage is to reduce peak-usage charges on your utility bill. Some utilities offer Time-of-Use (TOU) rate plans in which the price of electricity varies based on the hour of the day. Rates are higher during the afternoon when electric demand is at its "peak" across all utility customers.

A storage system may help you save more money by drawing power from your battery instead of from the grid during higher rates peak hours. You can then recharge your battery during lower rate, off-peak hours.

Tesla and SolarCity
Tesla and SolarCity already partnered on a project called DemandLogic to offer a stationary battery packs for businesses to save money using Time-of-Use rates and maintain power for essential equipment during power outages, but the project seems to be limited to businesses and is only available in areas of California serviced by Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, areas of Massachusetts serviced by NSTAR, and areas of Connecticut served by Connecticut Light & Power.

Source: SolarCity.

Tesla's battery pack is currently being tested by SolarCity for residential use in selected California markets, and it hopes to offer the service nationwide by the end of the year, according to its website.

Production constraint
There are currently production constraints on the Model S, and the main reason is the supply of battery cells. One might be concerned that Tesla would have difficulty supplying battery packs for home energy storage if it can't even build enough power trains for its own cars, which is obviously its main business, but Elon Musk addressed this concern in a tweet in December after the announcement of DemandLogic:

Source: Twitter

The fact that Tesla's CEO felt the need to specify that the supply will be safe in the short term might indicate that he foresees a high demand, or that maybe he wants to make sure no one starts questioning the long delivery time of the Model S once the stationary battery packs begin shipping.

The future of home energy storage
Energy storage is the logical next step for the solar industry. In the long term, it will free solar panels owners and solar leasing companies, like SolarCity, from utilities and net metering. In the foreseeable future, the technology will allow people to completely get off the utility electrical grid, but in the short term, it can be introduced to consumers as an efficient way to reduce their utility bills while proving a very useful device in case of a power outage.

When asked about a timeline at the meeting in Amsterdam, Elon Musk mentioned the possibility of stationary battery packs being delivered to Europe as soon as next year. The whole situation leads me to believe the DemandLogic service and the systems being tested in California are pilot projects to test the technology for a bigger introduction in the near future.

Of course, there are a lot of assumptions -- far too many to start talking about numbers -- but I think it might be a very interesting revenue stream for both Tesla and SolarCity -- a stream that might flow sooner than anticipated.

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.

As of 1 p.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading higher by 15 points, or 0.09%, the S&P 500 was up 0.05%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.01%. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, released today, indicated that housing prices have fallen for the second month in a row. For December, the 20-city index that tracks single-family homes prices in the major metropolitan locations around the U.S. fell by 0.1%. This follows a 0.1% decline in November, but on a year-over year basis the housing industry is still up and looking strong; with the final reading of 2013 now in the books, the index ended its best year since 2005. 

Despite the slight downtick in housing prices throughout the nation, shares of the Home Depot were higher by more than 3.2%. The home-improvement retailer reported earnings this morning that beat on the bottom line but missed on the top line. Wall Street expected revenue of $17.92 billion and earnings per share of $0.71, but the company posted sales of $17.7 billion and EPS of $0.73. Home Depot also increased its dividend by 21% to $0.47 per share. The only real bad news was that guidance for the coming year was below what analysts were looking for. The company expects revenue of $82.59 billion for the full fiscal year, while Wall Street wanted to see $82.9 billion. Earnings per share are expected to hit $4.38, lower than the $4.42 analysts had estimated. All in all, though, these figures are strong and investors shouldn't be concerned about the slightly lower guidance.  

Macy's shares are up 4.7% after the department store chain reported fourth-quarter earnings this morning. The company posted revenue of $9.2 billion and earnings per share of $2.16, which both fell below analysts' estimates of $9.28 billion in sales and $2.17 in earnings. But the company saw strong 4.3% same-store sales during the holiday season, and management believes revenue at stores open more than a year will be up 2.5%-3% in the coming year. At a time when Sears and J.C. Penney are struggling with sales Macy's seems to have a winning strategy. Although everything is not perfect, investors seem to like what the company is doing.  

Lastly, the big winner of the day so far is Zulily . The online flash sale retailer released quarterly earnings as a public company for the first time yesterday after the market closed and impressed investors. Shares of Zulily were higher by more than 39% today alone. The company earned $0.10 per share minus one-time items, while Wall Street expected EPS of just $0.03. Revenue hit $257 million, while expectations had been set at $225.5 million. Guidance for the coming quarter was set at sales of $225 million-$235 million and a net loss of $1 million-$5 million, but EBITDA earnings of $1 million-$5 million. Investors certainly believe that this new growth company can take off; they have pushed shares higher and the company's value to above $7 billion, despite the business not yet steadily turning a profit.  

Looking for the next BIG thing? Look no further

SJM Holdings, Macau's original casino monopoly company, announced year-end bonuses and salary increases earlier this year at itsGrand Emperor Hotel, but its employees were not too happy about this. Pay increases of 5% didn't sit well with the employees, who felt that they had been an integral part of the revenue increase seen by the casino over the last year.

Workers believe that they have had a part in this amazing revenue
growth, and should be better rewarded for it.

The employees of SJM Holdings held a "work-to-rule" action for two days. This action meant that employees at gambling tables did not cover the shifts of other employees coming on late, and it lasted for one hour on each of the two days. True, maybe this was not the most aggressive protest, but it could indicate more widely-held sentiment in the gaming region. More than 1,000 employees participated in the demonstration. Cleaning staff also started a sit-in to protest pay and inadequate conditions.

Are other companies at risk because of disgruntled employees?
According to Macau Business Daily, an online news source, rumors have circulated about similar workplace issues and potential worker actions at casinos operated by the local subsidiary of Las Vegas Sands , Sands China Ltd. According to the news source, a trade union representative said that Las Vegas Sands' year-end bonus, equivalent to one month's pay for the employees in question, had left them disappointed.

Las Vegas Sands had a blowout year in 2013. In the fourth quarter alone, the company brought in 3.67 billion, nearly 70% of which came from operations in Macau. The workers at these casinos know this just as much as any outside analyst does, and they know that it would not have been possible without their hard work.

Local subsidiary of Wynn Resorts  Wynn Macau Ltd. also announced a pay increase of 5% starting in March 2014 for all of its 7,600 employees, except for the top 1% of them. Additionally, the workers received a bonus equivalent to one month's pay, and the casino paid the bonus in early February.

Leong Sun Iok, vice-president of the Gaming Industry Workers Association, discussed Macau workers' sentiment and said, "Their frustration is understandable, as gross gaming revenue grew by nearly 20 percent last year, while visitor arrivals rose to another record." He also noted that another point of contention is the possibility of bringing foreigners to work in the same jobs. He said that "The workers also face more pressure because the idea of opening up croupier [the attendant that takes and pays out money at the gambling tables] positions to migrant workers has been raised, and the quality of the air in the workplace is worsening."

Protests in Macau in 2012 over rumors of foreign workers being allowed to work at casino tables. Photo: South China Morning Post

Without foreign employees, would there be labor shortages in Macau?
A report from Morgan Stanley Research Asia/Pacific in Hong Kong has noted that labor shortages could be a threat to the future growth of casinos on the island.In October 2012, thousands of employees at gaming companies in Macau protested against the possibility of bringing migrant workers to the island for work at the casino tables.

Photo: South China Morning Post

Currently government policy prevents this, and since the protests, the government has reiterated its stance on this issue and reassured Macau's permanent residents that the positions will be reserved for them.

However, the current unemployment rate in Macau in 2013 was a mere 1.8%. This means that as more megacasino resorts plan to open in Cotai in the coming few years, finding staff for these coveted positions may become an increasing challenge and expense. Leong Sun Iok noted that "With more casino-resorts expected to open in Cotai in the next few years, the labour market will be further strained, and sensitive topics like importing migrant workers will be raised again."

Are any companies raising pay in Macau at rates closer to their revenue growth percentages?
Or are they at least working toward fostering happier employees? MGM Resorts International has not announced a pay increase following its 2013 earnings, and the last company-wide wage increase was 5% in January 2012, according to the company's press releases. However, MGM and Unions struck a five-year deal in regard to its Las Vegas operations that received overwhelming support from the majority of employees, with as much as 97% approval.

The plan does not increase pay in the first year, but it greatly increases benefits and it allows for more negotiations in the fourth year. The employees of the Las Vegas casino applauded the new increases and showed their support in the landslide vote to approve it. While no news of similar action to be taken in Macau, MGM's commitment to employees in the U.S. might at least be a sign that the company is willing to take measures to keep employees happy.

Powerful employees should be kept happy
The workers in Macau know how much money the casino companies are making, and how much their revenue grew in 2013. Employees are disgruntled by wages that are not rising in-line with the revenue growth of these companies, nor even in-line with the rising cost of living in Macau due to the amount of money these casinos are bringing to the island, and this could lead to a bad situation where employees take action to get casinos' attention.

With the local government rule that only allows permanent residents to work the casino tables, these locals have a surprising amount of untapped power. Without them, labor shortages would mean the disruption of growth and further profits. Casino companies that incur the cost to appease these employees will probably be happy they did, as will their investors.

There has been much talk of late that the world is running out of cheap, accessible oil. Discussion of oil shocks, stagflation, and gasoline shortages make tomorrow look like a zombie apocalypse in the making. In reality there are a number of encouraging developments in the North American oil industry that should keep a lid on prices.

Improving transportation infrastructure

At the beginning of this century U.S. refiners paid similar prices for oil regardless of their location. U.S. production growth changed all of that and in 2011 PADD 2 and PADD 4 started trading at discounts to other regions. This is a big problem for U.S. consumers as PADD 3 contains more than half of all U.S. refinery capacity.

The U.S. can enjoy lower gasoline prices simply by expanding midstream infrastructure. Crude oil comprises 68% of the cost of U.S. gasoline, so decreasing the cost of crude oil is a big help at the pump. Enbridge and its MLP Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. have partnered with Marathon Petroleum  to build the $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline from the Bakken to Enbridge's main system.

Pipelines are big money savers. Marathon could pay $12 to $14 per barrel to ship Bakken oil by rail to Oklahoma or just $6 to $7 per barrel to ship Canadian oil to Oklahoma by pipeline. Marathon has refineries in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio that are located close to new oil production, but they need more pipelines like Sandpiper to get cost effective access.

The hidden price ceiling
Building new pipelines is a straightforward way to decrease short-term prices, but there are other long-term forces at play. High prices have changed the entire U.S. transportation industry and pushed adjusted fuel economy from below 20 MPG in 2004 to 24 MPG in 2013, a more than 20% fuel efficiency increase.

High prices decrease consumer demand and promote the production of alternative fuels. Valero is a major ethanol producer and in 2013 alone its ethanol division produced $491 million in operating income. Politics did play an important role in the rise of ethanol, but it should not be overlooked that high oil prices have helped ethanol replace 10% of our gasoline consumption.

In 2014 Valero has $3 billion allocated for capex projects. If gasoline prices were to increase significantly there is no reason why Valero couldn't expand its production into alternative refining techniques like pyrolysis. KiOR is a small company with a $125 million market cap trying to perfect this technique to create a crude oil substitute from biomatter. KiOR still needs to prove commercial viability, but Valero could easily devote a small portion of its capex to buy KiOR and bring its development in house.

The Foolish bottom line
New pipelines are being built to help bring down oil prices, cars are becoming more efficient and alternatives fuels are being developed. All together these factors mean that $10 per gallon gasoline is not likely. Even if an oil shock were to send gasoline to $10 per gallon for a sustained period of time, it would only supercharge the development of renewable alternatives like pyrolysis. The low probability of $10 per gallon gasoline is great news for energy investors as a slowly evolving status quo means safety, stability, and dependable incumbent growth.

The numbers
The midstream firm Enbridge Partners is a great example. It is shifting more and more of its income to safe take-or-pay based contracts. It expects that by 2016 these safer contracts will represent 60% of operating income. Additionally Enbridge Partners expects 2% to 5% annual distribution growth. If you don't want to deal with MLPs you can also look at Enbridge Inc, the owner of 21% of Enbridge Partners.

The refiners Marathon and Valero are taking active roles in developing the midstream infrastructure required to give them better access to cheap oil. Marathon is putting up $1 billion to $1.2 billion for Sandpiper in exchange for a 27% to 30% equity stake. 45% of Valero's 2014 capex is for logistics, including funds to prepare it for Enbridge's 9B reversal. These midstream investments will help Valero and Marathon get a hold of cheap oil and boost their margins.

Last year, when Mark Hulbert released his five-year rankings of the over 200 investment newsletters services he follows in the Hulbert Financial Digest, The Motley Fool's Inside Value service sat in the top spot.

The service aims to identify businesses trading a deep discounts to their true values -- such recommendations have included Berkshire Hatahway, Markel , Bank of America, and even non-traditional value stocks like Amazon.com.

Joe Magyer is the lead advisor of the Inside Value service. Joe recently sat down with the guys from The Motley Fool's everything-financial show, Where the Money Is, to discuss a wide range of topics. The guys discuss long-term business risks to the Berkshire Hathaway business model, the genius behind Markel, and lessons Joe has learned since moving to Australia in early 2013.

In this segment of the interview, Joe tells viewers what he thinks is the most exciting part of Markel's business.

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.

What: Shares of InterMune , a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on pulmonary and fibrotic diseases, skyrocketed by as much as 174% after a report of positive phase 3 results from its ASCEND trial involving pirfenidone (known as Esbriet in Europe) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF.

So what: According to InterMune's trial results, pirfenidone met both its primary and secondary endpoints in the study. As InterMune noted, a 10% decline in forced vital capacity, or FVC, in an IPF patient is considered clinically meaningful. Just 16.5% of patients taking pirfenidone after 52 weeks had a 10% decline in FVC, or death, compared to 31.8% in the placebo group, demonstrating a nearly 48% reduction over the control arm for the pirfenidone intent-to-treat group. In terms of secondary endpoints, pirfendione "reduced by 27.5% the proportion of patients who experienced a decline in the [six-minute-walking-distance test] of 50 meters of greater." This is important as the test is a measure of exercise tolerance since the treatment was initiated. Overall, pirfenidone reduced the risk of death or disease progression by 43% relative to the control arm. InterMune plans to resubmit its drug for FDA approval in the third quarter.

Now what: Considering that pirfenidone received a complete FDA response letter rejection in 2010, it's surprising to see how strong the data was today. Obviously, nothing is a sure thing when it comes to the FDA, but the primary and secondary endpoint data looks pretty convincing regarding an eventual approval. Still, even with few IPF treatment pathways available, RBC Capital analyst Michael Yee pegged its peak sales at just $300 million to $500 million. With a market valuation of more than $3 billion at the time of writing, and generally weak sales of Esbriet in currently approved European countries, I believe investors may be wise to rethink their optimism.

If you wanted to sign up for the new World Wrestling Entertainment Network on Monday -- the day it launched -- you had to be extremely persistent. The sign-up page for the network was down for parts of the day and some people who did manage to access the page were met with errors.

"Major League Baseball Advanced Media, WWE's technology partner, was overwhelmed and their systems have been unable to process most orders since 9 am due to demand for WWE Network. MLBAM has been working aggressively to resolve this issue," according to a statement WWE sent the Fool.

Trying to sign up for the WWE Network

Visits to the signup page for the WWE Network crashed the site repeatedly on the launch day. At 1 p.m. the website isitdownrightnow.com (which shows whether a site outage is global or specific to you) showed the page to not be responding.

My attempt to register started at 12:30 p.m. Clicking the Network sign-up button on the the WWE homepage resulted in either nothing happening or error messages. After repeated attempts, I reached the sign-up page and was able to enter my name and address, but the site returned an error when it attempted to process my credit card info. Attempts to pay via PayPal were also unsuccessful.

An attempt to refresh the page resulted in a timeout error, forcing me to start back from the beginning. After numerous tries and failures, I was able to complete my registration at around 1:10 p.m. -- 40 minutes after I started trying.

The site experienced intermittent problems through the afternoon. At 4:50 p.m., WWE used Twitter to announce that  "Major League Baseball Advanced Media's systems are now processing orders for WWE Network at WWE.com."

The deal WWE is offering

With the network, WWE is attempting to create a revenue stream that both eliminates the uncertainty of pay-per-view revenues and stops the company from having have to share that money with providers, including Dish Network , DirecTV , Comcast , and Time Warner . The WWE Network costs $9.99 a month with a six-month commitment. For that subscribers get all WWE pay per views -- which previously cost between $44.95 and $70 a show, half of which went to the cable or satellite companies.

The network, which also includes an enormous archive of older shows and original programs, is a deal for WWE fans (as even casual fans who would buy two PPVs a year now get a whole lot more for their money). It also locks in a revenue stream as WWE will know how many subscribers it has instead of having to book a PPV show and hope people order it.

On the sign-up sheet WWE also has a pre-clicked box asking whether you want to auto-renew your subscription every six months. If users don't uncheck that box they are subscribers until they manually cancel or their credit card expires.

How big an opportunity?

WWE CFO George Barrios told analysts last week that the network could attract as many as 3 million subscribers and become a "major source of future earnings growth" with as much as $150 million a year in cash flow, Deadline reported. 

According to WWE's most recent annual report, the company took $83.6 million in PPV revenue in 2012.

Will it work for WWE?

First-day glitches aside, the real test for WWE will be seeing if the company gets enough network subscribers to offset the revenue it loses from the dramatic drop it should see in orders for Wrestlemania, its biggest PPV of the year. The show is still being offered via traditional PPV, but companies including Dish Network have said they may not carry it. Last year "WrestleMania broke down as 650,000 domestic (North American, really) buys and 398,000 foreign," Ben Miller of WrestlingObserver.com told the Fool via email.

With the network only launching in North America, the international buys won't be affected. WWE does not release an average price paid per PPV buyer. But if you assume Wrestlemania -- which generally has a higher price tag than lesser shows -- costs viewers an average of $55, the show brought in $35,750,000 domestically. The WWE receives about half of that money meaning the company took in roughly $17,875,000 in PPV revenue from the show's North American buys.

And while the WWE Network is not likely to get enough subscribers to offset the lost Wrestlemania money immediately, the company could make it up in the coming months. By forcing customers into a six-month deal WWE may lose on Wrestlemania but it could make more money in months where less-successful PPVs air.

WWE has not released any first-day numbers, but the signs are encouraging.  According to MLBAM, the initial demand at 9 a.m. Eastern exceeded anything the company had seen in its history and overloaded the company's e-commerce processing system, Variety reported.

Fix the glitches

Making sure people can actually sign-up for the network during the period leading up to Wrestlemania is key for WWE. During the pre-Wrestlemania period wrestling not only traditionally has its highest viewership levels, it also has its highest level of attention from casual fans. With WWE pulling out all the stops to get consumers interested (including having legend Hulk Hogan make his return to WWE TV Monday night) this is the critical period to get people who like WWE, but weren't regularly buying PPVs to buy the network.

To make that happen the network has to work. The hardcore fan might be willing to wait or try again later. But if the casual fan tries to subscribe and can't, the opportunity may be lost.

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.

What: Shares of Infinity Pharmaceuticals , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for unmet diseases, jumped as much as 19% after reporting its fourth-quarter earnings results before the opening bell.

So what: Being that Infinity is wholly clinical stage, it did not record any revenue for the fourth quarter. Its net loss, however, shrank considerably, to $32.9 million, or $0.68 per share, from $47 million, or $1.15 per share, in the year-ago quarter. This was primarily accomplished by a $13.4 million reduction in research and development expenses. By comparison, Wall Street had anticipated a much wider loss of $0.86 per share. Infinity also announced a number of expected 2014 development milestones, including initiating three clinical studies of IPI-145 in hematologic malignancies, and reporting topline data from two mid-stage studies.

Now what: Anytime a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company can reduce its R&D expenses by $13.4 million from the year-ago quarter without compromising the development of its lead drug is a good thing. While IPI-145 has shown promise, Infinity has also shown no sign that its losses and cash burn will abate anytime soon, either. In fiscal 2013, Infinity burned through $112.1 million in cash, and it's quite feasible that figure could be around $100 million, in my estimation, for fiscal 2014. The potential for dilution in order to raise cash for clinical studies has to always be at the back of your mind with clinical-stage biopharma companies like Infinity. For now, I consider myself nothing more than a casual observer of this company.

Arian Foster, Vernon Davis, and now E.J. Manuel. Fantex, the brokerage that lets investors trade stock in professional athletes, is slowly accumulating NFL players. This week, the company announced it has reached an agreement with Manuel, who plays quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. Should you buy in?

I say yes -- here's why.

The brand value
An investment in a Fantex athlete is really an investment in his or her brand value. Comprised of on-field (contract) and off-field income (endorsements), both sides of the equation are important.

In Manuel's case, the second-year player is in the midst of a four-year, $8.88 million contract with Buffalo. This includes a fully guaranteed $4.8 million signing bonus, according to Spotrac.

Unlike some first-round picks of years past, Manuel's deal is significantly depressed by the NFL's rookie wage scale, which was established in 2011. Josh Freeman, for example, signed a five-year deal as a first-round rookie in 2009 that paid him an annual salary 300% higher than Manuel. Freeman was picked 17th that year, while Manuel went one pick higher in the 2013 draft.

Image via Zennie Abraham, Flickr.

The wage scale lowers rookie contracts, which gives those investing in younger NFL players an opportunity. As I wrote in my analysis of Richard Sherman, "Until there's a proven market for athletes, there's no way to know just how much more investors will prefer younger players, but their Price-to-Brand Value ratios -- let's call it P/BV -- should be higher than their older peers."

Assuming brand value determines the value of a player's Fantex stock, the younger the better. There's more upside, because he has more time to improve his brand value, whether that's through a richer contract or more endorsements. 

While Manuel has at least a few endorsement deals at the moment, including one with memorabilia company Panini America, there's still plenty of upside.

In a recent discussion with Buck French, John Rodin, and Sean Baenen -- respectively, the CEO, president, and CMO of Fantex -- the executives stressed that while their company cannot control how well an athlete plays on the field, Fantex does help with sponsorship connections, which ultimately can lead to more endorsement deals. In fact, a major reason athletes choose to sign with Fantex is its marketing expertise, according to French.

The valuation
Next comes the fun part. Since Fantex says it bought 10% of E.J. Manuel's brand value for $4.97 million, they're pegging a $49.7 million valuation on his remaining football-related income. His current contract takes care of nearly $9 million of this estimate, and assuming he made a modest $100,000 in endorsements last year, a little over $40 million must be realized for Fantex's investment to break even.

I've broken down the numbers below (the scenario table follows).

Contract data from Spotrac. Estimates and graphs compiled by author. Assumes rookie signing bonus is spread evenly among first four years, and uses an inflation rate of 2.5% to estimate contract value. Horizontal axis in years, in terms of Manuel's career.

The simple take is that the better Manuel's contract, the better investors' return will theoretically be. Likewise, the more he makes from endorsements, the more you'll make from his Fantex tracking stock.

As I wrote a few weeks ago, Fantex plans on paying dividends, assuming a player's checks are coming in. The company told me it reserves the right not to, but its goal is to, "pay out a minimum of 20% or greater of available funds as dividends." 

Scenario A
This was my best-case scenario. If Manuel can sign a contract equal to the annual average of the NFL's top 50 QBs ($6.9 million) when he becomes a free agent in 2017, the value of Fantex's investment will break even in his eighth year, his age-30 season. This is illustrated above, and assumes his endorsements are excellent at $2 million a year. As is also shown, there's a bit more upside if Fantex pays a dividend rate of 40% instead of 20%.

Scenario B
In this scenario, Manuel's contract is still assumed to be the average of the NFL's top 50 QBs, but his endorsements are estimated to be much lower at $300,000 per season. The upside shrinks, but because on-field income would remain high, the investment breaks even in the ninth year. Again, notice the slight difference depending on the dividend rate.

Scenario C
Lastly, Scenario C is what investors can expect if Manuel signs a long-term contract equal to the total NFL QB average ($3.8 million), which includes all backups. In addition to a cheaper deal, this scenario also assumes Manuel can't improve his endorsement value significantly over time.

The X-factor
There is an X-factor here, though. Do you recall the Price-to-Brand Value ratio I mentioned above? If -- and this is a big if -- investors value players at a multiple of their underlying brand value, there's more upside potential. Here's what Manuel's valuation does if his stock trades at a P/BV of 2.0 instead of 1.0.

Contract data from Spotrac. Estimates and graphs compiled by author. Assumes rookie signing bonus is spread evenly among first four years, and uses an inflation rate of 2.5% to estimate contract value. Horizontal axis in years, in terms of Manuel's career.

If this were to happen, the break-even point occurs much sooner, and the estimated return (in Scenario A) nears 200% in Manuel's tenth year, his age-32 season. In this scenario, a career through at least the age of 30 would theoretically double any investment in Manuel's Fantex stock. Again, a lower contract or fewer endorsements decreases the upside, and the dividend rate will affect the return.

Remember, because Manuel is a very young player, he theoretically deserves a higher P/BV ratio than an older veteran, like Vernon Davis. If investors believe he warrants a P/BV of 3.0 or 4.0, the estimated return increases even further.

The future
At the end of the day, I'm bullish on E.J. Manuel, much more so than someone like Davis. Manuel has youth on his side, and according to The Buffalo News, Bills head coach Doug Marrone says the team is "excited about" Manuel's development, adding, "when he was in there, with the lack of time that we had, there were things that he did very well."

Manuel missed six games as a rookie, and it's possible that with more practice time and mentorship, he could become a dual-threat QB in the same class as Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III. The Daunte Culpepper comparisons -- due to his size, arm, and ability to throw on the move -- are also justified from the game film I've seen.

Manuel's college success and draft positioning warrant at least a couple more years of development time, and with the Bills, that likely means it will be as a starter. While the risks of injury and ineffectiveness remain, I like the value present in E.J. Manuel's eventual IPO. 

Keep the Barry Sanders Clause (it might exist in the future) in mind: Any athlete's past performance is no guarantee of future results, so invest at your own risk.

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 Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 32 points, to 16,239, at 1:30 p.m. EST after mixed reports on the housing market and consumer confidence. The S&P 500 was up two point to 1,850.

There were three U.S. economic releases today.

The home price indices are the ones to pay attention to today. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index and the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Prince Index both rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in December. That's down from November's 0.9% gain for the Case-Shiller and up from November's 0.1% decrease for the FHFA. On a nonseasonally adjusted basis, FHFA home prices were basically flat, up from November's 0.5% drop, while the Case-Shiller composite was down 0.1%, unchanged from November.

Source: S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

With the slow gains, home prices are still up over the past 12 months. The Case-Shiller is up 13.4% year over year and the FHFA index is up 7.7%. Home price appreciation generally slows in the winter months, as fewer people move, and then picks up in the spring and summer. Still, 13.4% is the fastest annual growth since 2005 and brings U.S. home prices closer to the highs hit in 2006. Home prices are not expected to keep rising so quickly in 2014, as higher mortgage rates and increased supply start to slow home-price appreciation.

While the Dow and home prices were little moved, Home Depot is leading the Dow higher today, up 3.1% to $80.27, after its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report. The home improvement retailer reported quarterly earnings per share of $0.73, better than analysts' expectation of $0.71. Revenue had been expected to hit $17.9 billion, but was down 3% year over year to $17.7 billion. The terrible winter was partly to blame, but Home Depot should see some benefit from the tough weather in the spring and summer as people repair their properties.

Despite reassurances throughout last year that Wii U sales would improve, Nintendo finally admitted last month that sales were coming in significantly slower than the company had hoped. Having already lost support from third-party publishers like Electronic Arts and having only a couple of first-party games from major franchises, the future of the Wii U looked bleak.

To be honest, it still looks somewhat bleak. While Nintendo will likely be able to turn around its recent losses and return to profitability over time through software sales, 3DS sales, and the reduction of manufacturing costs, it is obvious even to the company that the Wii U isn't going to become a hit. That doesn't mean that it can't find an audience, however.

The Wii U's problem
Nintendo's greatest strength has largely been its first-party content. While games such as Goldeneye 64 are classics, Nintendo is more widely associated with characters such as Mario and Samus Aran than James Bond. Early Nintendo systems launched with a "Mario" game included, and later consoles typically had a major franchise game coming out relatively close to release. Even the Wii enjoyed a launch with a Wii version of the GameCube's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess available to hold fans over until the Super Mario Galaxy launch a year later.

The Wii U seemed to launch with a softer first-party lineup. The biggest first-party game in its early lineup was New Super Mario Bros U, which offered a few upgrades to New Super Mario Bros Wii but wasn't enough to draw players to the console. The "Zelda" title under development for the console was delayed significantly by the development team scrapping content that they didn't feel provided the quality that gamers wanted, and the HD rerelease of The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker released to tide gamers over wasn't enough to drive sales. The release of Super Mario 3D World a year after the console's launch gave it a fun "Mario" game, but some elements seemed a bit too close to the "New Super Mario Bros" franchise to build the excitement that a unique game might have produced.

In short, the Wii U was lacking in one of the top selling points of any Nintendo console: Nintendo games.

The year of Nintendo
In 2013, Nintendo began a slightly over-a-year-long event known as "The Year of Luigi." While no theme has been announced for a successor promotion yet, the company could almost call 2014 "The Year of Nintendo Games."

Last week, Nintendo released Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze to significant acclaim, with reviewers making comments like "It's an incredibly crafted platformer with an HD sheen and an insane attention to detail..." (Destructoid) and "It has an endearing quality that will capture you, and a challenge level worthy of even the most skilled players..." (Cheat Code Central.) While the game isn't going to suddenly propel the Wii U into new popularity, those Nintendo fans who've held off on buying the console until it had more must-play games will see its release as a positive sign.

The company will also release Mario Kart 8 in May, and both Super Smash Bros and co-developed Hyrule Warriors (a "Dynasty Warriors"-like game set in the world of the "Zelda" series) are expected for release later this year as well. Nintendo has also promised an expanded presence at E3 this year (as compared to its minimal presence last year) so additional core game announcements may be made as the year progresses. One of these games might even be the next full entry in the "Legend of Zelda" franchise.

Luring back the faithful
At this point, Nintendo's plans shouldn't include attempts at competing with the likes of Microsoft or Sony ; both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have left the Wii U behind, and it isn't Nintendo's style to try and compete directly with the big console makers anyway. It's likely that Nintendo is hard at work on designs for a successor to the Wii U (with some rumors saying that there's already a new console in development), and in the meantime the company is trying to make the most out of the Wii U and salvage what it can. This approach won't make the console a massive hit, but producing games that Nintendo fans want to play will at least get the console into the hands of the company's core audience.

The best way for Nintendo to do this is to focus on the games that Nintendo fans want to play. While every conversation about Nintendo's core franchises inevitably has people commenting about how "nobody" likes Mario or Link anymore, these games still tend to be major sellers on Nintendo systems even if they don't sell as well as they did when Nintendo was at the top of its game. While new IP from Nintendo would be wonderful, there's always a risk that new and untested games will flop ... and the Wii U can't afford lackluster first-party games right now.

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.

What: Shares of Hyperion Therapeutics , a biopharmaceutical company focused on treatment hepatology disorders and other orphan diseases, jumped as much as 15% after publishing the midstage results of its glycerol phenylbutyrate (GPB) study for the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) -- a worsening of brain function due to reduced liver function -- in the March 2014 issue of Hepatology.

So what: According to Hyperion's results, which tested 178 patients with liver cirrhosis, "GPB significantly reduced the proportion of patients who experienced a HE event (21% compared to 36%), as well as the time to first HE event." With a hazard ratio of 0.56, this would imply a 44% clinical risk reduction in first-time HE events for those taking GPB. Hyperion notes that since the trial met its primary endpoint it will be moving onto a pivotal phase 3 trial later this year or in early 2015.

Now what: There's no way to construe this as anything but good news for Hyperion. GPB demonstrated a meaningful reduction in HE events and length of time noted to first HE event for studied patients. Although Hyperion estimates that its drug could target some 140,000 cirrhosis patients in the U.S., investors should also understand that HE drug competition can be fierce, and Hyperion's GPB would be in no way guaranteed of gaining significant market share. Furthermore, with Hyperion now valued at six times the peak sales of its lone FDA-approved urea-cycle disorder drug Ravicti, I'd suggest that its shares could be nearing a high-water point.

Over the past year, HollyFrontier has severely underperformed its larger peers, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy . Specifically, excluding dividends, over the past year HollyFrontier's stock price has declined 18%, Phillips 66's has driven higher by 17%, and Valero Energy's share price has risen by 5%.

Ignore the share price
forgetting this short-term underperformance, investors shouldn't give up on HollyFrontier. Indeed, the company has many desirable qualities and appears to be well managed under the face of it all. For example, a quick look over the figures supplied by HollyFrontier shows that despite the company's lagging share price, the company appears to be outperforming its comparable peers on a business basis.

In particular, during the past five years, HollyFrontier achieved an average return on invested capital, or ROIC, of 14.7%, the highest of its peer group. Phillips 66 only achieved an average ROIC of 9.9% and Valero Energy's return has been, what can be described as an abysmal 1%. Part of this return can be attributed to HollyFrontier's strategically located refineries, which allow the company access to an advantaged crude slate.

Source: HollyFrontier investor presentation.

Good locations, low cost
HollyFrontier's refineries, as shown above, are located close to the Mississippi Lime, Permian/Eagle Ford Basins, and Uinta/Niobrara formations, all of which are expected to report strong production growth over the next few years. In addition, HollyFrontier is the general partner of Holly Energy Partners, which owns several pipelines and storage facilities connecting these major production zones.

All in all, these strategically located refineries mean that the company has access to oils that trade at a discount to Brent and WTI, allowing better profit margins. Once again, according to numbers supplied by the company, HollyFrontier's net income per barrel of crude refined has been 22% higher than its closest comparable peer. Specifically, on average, during the past five years, HollyFrontier's average net income per barrel has been $4.57, Phillips 66's has only been $2.5, and Valero Energy has only been able to achieve a five-year average of $0.34.

How is this reflecting on performance?
For investors, these impressive production and return-on-capital metrics are all well and good, but unless this feeds through to investment performance, then there is very little to get excited about. However, aside from HollyFrontier's lackluster share price performance, the company has been returning impressive amounts of cash to investors. Since July 2011, HollyFrontier has returned around $1.9 billion in cash to investors, around 21% of the company's market capitalization. These cash returns have been achieved and supported while keeping the balance sheet clean -- total debt to capital was only 3% at the end of the third quarter last year.

Looking for bolt-on growth
What's more, HollyFrontier is targeting growth, and the company's management is seeking acquisitions at the right price, which will ultimately limit the prospect of mistakes occurring and waste of shareholder equity on what could prove to be fruitless acquisitions.

Specifically, HollyFrontier's management is on the lookout for acquisitions that produce a return of at least 2x the cost of capital. In other words, if the company borrows $1 billion to make an acquisition and this costs 5.5% per annum, HollyFrontier's management will want an annualized return of 11% from the acquisition in order to make the deal. Aside from this strict criteria, HollyFrontier's management is also looking for assets with existing supply/off-take agreements to de-risk income and cash flows. All in all, this would appear to be an extremely well thought out and planned acquisition strategy.

Having said all of that, HollyFrontier is still a risky businesses, and the company is still somewhat dependent on crude prices and economic headwinds. It would appear that the company's management is working hard to reduce these downside risks however.

Foolish summary
All in all, investors should not judge HollyFrontier on its share price performance alone. The company's strategically located refineries give it an advantage over its peers as can be see with the high return on capital. Further, investors are reaping the benefits through cash distributions, and this should be set to continue.

Source: Jeopardy!'s YouTube videos.

Arthur Chu is not your average Jeopardy! champion. He thrashes the buzzer like a berserker, doesn't pick his clues down one column at a time, and often looks like a robot (in rumpled clothes) while playing the game. Sometimes, he bets just enough on Final Jeopardy! to clinch a tie -- not an outright win.

And Chu has made $123,600 on the show -- and counting. Not bad for five episodes' work, shot over two days.

You know what's even cooler? Chu built a winning strategy with investing lessons worthy of Warren Buffett or George Soros. He's doing three crucial things that you can take to the stock market and build your own market-beating winning streak.

Keep emotion out of the game
If Chu seems robotic, it's because he's playing Jeopardy! to win. More specifically, he's in it to win as much money as possible. This is a crucial distinction that I'll revisit later.

He came into the game prepared to the teeth. It wasn't all about studying world capitals and American presidents. Chu took the next step that most contestants fail to perform: he had a plan and a playbook.

Picking questions and betting on Double Jeopardy squares are important decisions in the game. But most contestants make them on the fly, under the hot studio lights, with Alex Trebek pushing them to keep the game interesting and with the gravity of big-money winnings weighing on their shoulders.

Not Chu. As he told The A.V. Club in a recent interview, he figured out how to avoid all that game-breaking drama:

I told myself, "I'm not going to make these decisions. I'm going to outsource my decision making to the experts. I'm going to write down a playbook. I'm going to come up with some scripted plays and just discipline myself and say this is exactly what I'm going to do in the game. And I will not have to think about making those decisions. That part will be automatic, and I can use all of my brain cells to know the answers because that's what I need them for."

Chu is human and didn't have all eternity to draw up that playbook, but he's doing his best to stick to the plan and it's paying off big time. Perfection is impossible, but having a plan at all is crucial. "Not having a strategy and having to make decisions on the fly can really harm you," Chu said.

Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings would agree -- stick to your playbook if you want to keep smiling. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

It's the same thing in the stock market. Emotion has no place in investing, and planning is crucial. I love Netflix and am making good money on that stock these days. But I have a simple investment thesis -- Netflix is making a land grab in digital entertainment and nobody dares to challenge the company's ultra-efficient business model head-to-head -- and I'd cash in my chips if Netflix ever stopped fitting that bill.

The Qwikster debacle came close, until CEO Reed Hastings realized his error and changed course again. Rather than selling out of this massive opportunity, I ended up buying more shares while they were cheap -- and Hastings' mistake had already been corrected.

Make sure you have an investment thesis for every stock. Feel free to modify it when business conditions change, but never forget why you own that stock in the first place. And no, "I love this company!" is never a good investment thesis. Emotions and investing just don't mix.

Don't cry over spilled milk
If you want to beat the Dow Jones industrial Average you have to be ready for the occasional mistake. Arthur Chu doesn't get every question right, and Warren Buffett doesn't nail every investment. The Dow itself gets its apparent stability from rolling with the punches. Of the blue-chip components 20 years ago, only 16 remain in the Dow. Some were simply replaced by stronger names; others merged their way out; and a few unfortunate Dow companies have even filed for bankruptcy.

But the Dow still generally rises, with the occasional speed bump along the way:

^DJI data by YCharts.

Chu wants the Double Jeopardy squares because that's where the big money is made. But you'll never see him go all in on one apparent gimme category, because he knows that there's always the risk of losing everything.

That's also why you shouldn't go all in on one stock. Netflix could be the next Enron, gone overnight in a scandal that nobody saw coming (least of all me). So Netflix may be the cornerstone of my long-term strategy, but it's never the only stock I own. In the long run, the Dow's big winners more than make up for the occasional loser. Diversify your portfolio and you'll see the same effect playing to your advantage.

The best way to get rich slowly is to draw up a solid playbook (see above!), and then start an automatic investment plan based on that.

Play to your strengths
Remember that thing I asked you to keep in mind just a few paragraphs ago? Chu isn't just playing to win one game. Instead, he's maximizing his chances to win as much money as possible, which sometimes means playing the endgame for a tie. Arthur loses nothing on tying the game, since both winners get to keep their prize money and then come back for the next game. There's solid game theory behind acting this way, and just another tool in Chu's toolbox.

He's using every trick of the trade. Running down clue categories in sequence might make for better television, but jumping around keeps his opponents off-guard and less prepared for what's coming next. It's not a big advantage, but every little bit helps.

That playbook includes guidelines for finding Double Jeopardy squares and then making the most of them. But not by betting the maximum every time. Like a seasoned poker player, Arthur Chu knows when to hold 'em, knows when to fold 'em, and knows when to walk away with a measly $5 bet. That's all part of maximizing your winning chances. Ask any professional poker player what the game is all about, and you'll get a solid lesson in statistics. Jeopardy! Is no different -- and neither is investing.

Alex Trebek is watching Arthur Chu play the game like a master investor. Image source: pacaf.af.mil

The way to stay ahead of the investing game is to stick with what you know. Like Arthur Chu betting big on categories he knows well and wimping out of harder questions, you must know what you're good at and stick within your field of expertise.

I mean, everybody loves value investing. Maybe that's your forte, dear reader, but not mine. My retirement portfolio is built on growth stocks, with Netflix the flagship of my fleet. Value bets are not completely off-limits to me, and it makes sense to take small bites when you want to learn something new. But I leave most of my value plays to the CAPS system, where there's no real money on the line.

In my real-money retirement portfolio, I'm a coldhearted growth investor because that's what I do best. This maximizes my chances to beat the Dow in the long run, just like Arthur Chu reaping the cumulative benefits of several small advantages. Maybe you're a dividend hound instead, or a value bloodhound, or you might have unique insights into what makes small-cap start-ups tick. Invest accordingly.

Keep investing like Arthur Chu!
Nobody knows whether Arthur Chu will beat Ken Jennings' 74-game winning streak or Brad Rutter's $3.5 million money record. And nobody knows if you or I will crush the Dow in the long run.

But as long as we keep playing to our advantages, minimize our risks, and stick to a sensible playbook, we all have a good chance of getting it done.

(Disney.com)

Every investor makes good and bad decisions throughout their careers. Those who remain patient and possess conviction often end up outperforming other investors. That said, there are some companies out there that allow investors to sit back, relax, and enjoy methodical stock appreciation and dividend payments over the years. Walt Disney fits into that category.

There are so many reasons to like Disney that it would be impossible to break them all down in one article. Therefore, the company must be looked at in bits and pieces. In this case, we'll look at the other side of the world. 

Hong Kong success 

In fiscal-year 2013, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort saw hotel occupancy reach a record high of 94%. This was part of the reason why Disney announced it will add 750 more hotel rooms by 2017. The cost: $547 million. However, that cost will be partially shouldered by the Hong Kong city government, which owns 52% of the resort.

Other impressive numbers for Hong Kong Disneyland Resort include a fiscal-year 2013 revenue increase of 15% to $629.3 million, a 10% jump to 7.4 million in attendance, and net income of $31.2 million which rose from $14 million in fiscal-year 2012. This is still a small profit for a company like Disney, but the entertainment juggernaut is likely pleased with the recent net income growth considering that the resort wasn't profitable for its first six years in existence.

In 2013, Hong Kong Disneyland opened Mystic Point, which expanded the terrain of the park by approximately 25% and pushed the specific attraction and entertainment offerings north of 100. This might have led to improved traffic and profitability.

Looking ahead to 2016, Disney plans on adding an Iron Man thrill ride in its Tomorrowland section at a cost of $100 million. The cost should pay off given the popularity of the film franchise internationally and in the future it will have the reputation of being the first Marvel-based ride at any Disney park anywhere in the world.

It's clear that Disney is now seeing success as well as increased potential at its Hong Kong theme park. However, the most important number might be the population of Hong Kong: 7 million. Here's why.

764 miles away

If you ever visit Hong Kong, then you should also consider visiting Shanghai, which is only 764 miles away. Why go across the world and not see the largest and most populated city in China? Shanghai has a population of 24 million people.

It took eight years for Hong Kong Disneyland to reach approximately 7.4 million in attendance, which slightly exceeds the city's population of 7.155 million. If a similar trend were to take place in Shanghai, then Shanghai Disney Resort would reach north of 25 million people in attendance within eight years.

That's a big number, and this is a broad statement. However, consider two important points. One, Disney always tries to best itself. While Hong Kong Disneyland has been a hit, it's not likely to compare to Shanghai Disney Resort, which will focus on music, dance, and animals, as well as feature the Gardens of Imagination, offering views of the Enchanted Storybook Castle. Two, Shanghai is the wealthiest city in China with the fastest-growing middle class. This elevated level of disposable income will certainly benefit Disney.

It should also be noted that Disney recently formed its first corporate alliance for the park with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, or ICBC. The bank will have a large presence at the Garden of the Twelve Friends, which will celebrate each of the 12 Chinese zodiac characters. While it's unlikely that you will invest in a Chinese bank on a foreign exchange, this should increase brand recognition for ICBC.

Expanding a dream
Disney isn't the only entertainment company that has attempted to capitalize on the Shanghai market. DreamWorks Animation , in conjunction with Oriental DreamWorks, aims to have its Dream Zone completed by 2016. This will consist of theaters, performance halls, and restaurants across six riverfront city blocks.

DreamWorks plans to make Dream Zone the Chinese version of Broadway. It's going to set the company back by $3.14 billion, close to what Disney is investing in Shanghai Disney Resort: $4 billion. The difference is that Disney is a much larger and fiscally powerful company than DreamWorks Animation, which makes this more of a high-risk, high-reward bet for DreamWorks Animation. Consider the operating cash flows of these companies over the past year: $59.68 million for DreamWorks Animation and $9.52 billion for Disney. However, if DreamWorks Animation's bet pays off, it could pay off in a big way, not just via Dream Zone but via brand and movie-character recognition as well, which could lead to merchandising opportunities. 

The Foolish takeaway
Thanks to a city with wealthy residents and a larger population than any other city in China, Shanghai Disney Resort is likely to see long-term success. Even if the attendance doesn't meet expectations, Disney is further increasing its brand recognition among the Chinese population, which should do wonders for its merchandising as well as its television movie production potential -- keep in mind that China has 1.35 billion people. Please do your own research prior to making any investment decisions. 

Source: Federal Realty Investment Trust.

It's one thing to own a building, but it's another to own an entire city. While that's a bit of an exaggeration of what Federal Realty Investment Trust does, it isn't far off the mark. This sets the company apart from competitors and provides built-in growth potential.

Building a town
It's not unusual for a home builder like PulteGroup to put up hundreds, if not thousands, of houses in a development. What Pulte and the other homebuilders create is nothing short of amazing.

Pulte offers homes for first-time buyers, move-up buyers, and active adults. While its communities vary, they often have amenities like pools, tennis courts, and club houses. The idea is to build more than just a Levittown-style row of buildings. But houses don't make towns, you need more.

Disney took a stab at that. The company had excess land near its Walt Disney World resort that wasn't suitable for its parks' business; so, under Michael Eisner it set about building a real town. The town, called Celebration, was started in the mid-1990s and included homes, apartments, a downtown shopping area, office buildings, a post office, a school, a hospital, community amenities, and more.

Disney has since divested itself of any ownership. While some may argue about whether or not it has worked out as planned, the company proved that an entirely new town could be built from the ground up. Disney's media and amusement businesses, which are both industry leaders, are clearly the driving force at the company. However, it hasn't lost the urge to build and subsequently started construction of a more traditional housing project called Golden Oak.

The pull
When Pulte builds, it has to actively sell its properties. When Disney started selling Celebration's homes, it had more demand than supply. The Disney name was a huge draw and helped to make the town what it is today. It's not something that can be easily replicated. However, Federal Realty has successfully been building what amounts to small cities without the need for Disney's name.

The difference is that Federal Realty brings together housing, amusement/shopping, and office/business properties in affluent areas where people want to live, but with tighter, centralized controls -- much like a housing development with written standards or Disney's Celebration, which has a governing body setting and upholding community rules. In Federal Realty developments, however, it is a landlord calling the shots and making sure the "city" remains a nice place to live.

Building a community is a big risk. Federal Realty openly admits that such mixed-use projects are more complex and time-consuming to build than putting up a single-use building. However, it believes the returns are superior and more enduring.

Source: Flickr / Brett VA.

For example, it says that residential rents are 25% higher where it's "mini-cities" are located. In addition, office rents are over 10% higher and hotel revenues are up to 40% above the local market. Once a project is stabilized, expansion projects are far less risky, and in many cases, built into the long-term plan. For example, construction of the five phases at Bethesda Row spanned more than a decade.

Federal Realty CEO Donald Wood summed up 2014 by saying, "this was a very good year, and it sets us up beautifully to really create a lot of real estate value along with earnings over the next few years." In fact, the company increased its 2014 guidance during its full-year 2013 conference call. That continues a long streak of top line growth, including the 2007 to 2009 recession. And, more important to income investors, the dividend has been increased regularly for more than 45 years.

A different beast, but a beautiful one
Building true communities where people work, live, and play isn't easy -- a fact that Disney's Celebration proves. But Federal Realty has managed to do it time and time again. Moreover, this REIT has built a pipeline of growth projects at existing facilities. This is truly a differentiated property owner and is worth a deeper look.

The labor market is changing, and this environment favors an investment in Korn/Ferry much more than traditional staffing firms such as Manpower or TrueBlue, . 

Whether you choose to believe that statement, and the facts I'm about to share with you, is completely up to you. All I ask, is that by the end of this article, you know the difference between Korn/Ferry and staffing companies. You see, in my estimation, Korn/Ferry is often misrepresented as a staffing company. 

In two simple words I will use to illustrate why Korn/Ferry is different than the staffing "herd,' and why it has such a wide competitive moat -- Jed Hughes. 

Image courtesy of Korn/Ferry

A small glimpse into what makes Korn/Ferry special
Last Thursday, on my drive home, I decided to tune into the local sports radio station. I'm a die-hard Chicago Bears fan, and with the NFL scouting combine in full-gear, I wanted a scoop on this year's draft. Instead, the afternoon show's host was speaking with a man named Jed Hughes about hot NFL General Manager candidates, and suddenly my mind drifted in a Foolish direction.

You see, Hughes is an NFL employment guru, a true headhunter, and an he's an Executive for Korn/Ferry. If you live in Seattle he, of course, needs no introduction because Hughes was the man who was tasked by the Seattle Seahawks in finding their next Head Coach a few years back.

That Coach, of course, was Pete Carroll, and the rest is Super Bowl history.

Hughes was calling in from the combine; he attends everywhere for the networking opportunities. You see, Hughes has made so many connections over the years, that he's viewed as an expert in the industry. An NFL team knows that his level of "stickiness" in the industry is likely to lead them toward a top hire. 

You may want to invest in TrueBlue or Manpower still, but you'd have to admit that they do not operate on this talent playing field, so to compare Korn/Ferry to staffing providers is silly. With a little research, you'd see that Korn/Ferry has experts like Hughes in every niche and specialty market, from Government lobbyists to CEO's of advertising firms, and they truly have very few real competitors of scale. 

While nothing is certain in investing, you're off to a pretty good start when you find a brand that is indispensable to its market that few investors actually understand. 

Why Korn/Ferry makes sense now
Korn/Ferry, TrueBlue, and Manpower all trade at about twenty times last years earnings. Yet I prefer Korn/Ferry for tomorrow's market, and feel the market is discounting shares.

Temporary labor providers have the advantage during periods of high, yet stable, unemployment. We're coming out of an environment like that. In recent years, businesses were uncertain about the economy, so they turned to the lower risk proposition of temporary labor. In addition, while companies slashed middle management positions in recent years, they held on to core temporary skilled labor positions, such as Machinists.

That was the story yesterday; is tomorrow looking better? I think so. In addition to lower unemployment rates, and better GDP numbers, the U.S. is hiring executive level talent again. In Manpower's most recent workforce shortage survey, which highlights the most in-demand occupations, executive and management positions cracked the top five for the first time in five years.

That feeds right into Korn/Ferry's wheelhouse. They find that "needle in the haystack" candidate in niche industries, such as Pete Carroll, and they charge a hefty fee (minimum of 20k for "normal industries") for each placement. 

In its most recent quarter, Korn/Ferry reported record fee revenue, which increased  21% year over year. This is significant because Korn/Ferry's recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and consulting business have done well in all environments.

The fee revenue jump (for direct hire recruitment) would lead us to put some weight in the aforementioned labor survey and give us reason to believe Korn/Ferry has a relatively unknown growth catalyst. 

Foolish conclusion: a stock for a better tomorrow
I have nothing against temporary staffing stocks. I've recommended both Kelly Services and Robert Half, both excellent franchises, and I believe they will continue to outperform.