For as much hand-wringing as there's been over iOS 7, we won't know the new system's potential until Apple pairs it with a handset and a tablet. Apple is a hardware company, after all, says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video.

Consider, too, that the new iOS borrows heavily from features found in Google's Android operating system. Playing catch-up is no way to juice sales, which leaves the base iPhone and iPad hardware as Apple's principal opportunities to leap ahead.

But even that may prove difficult considering how Samsung and the major Android device suppliers differentiate today. Samsung, in particular, is profiting from the "phablet" craze in which phones sport screens big enough to also act as mini-tablets.

Apple needn't play copycat here. But chief designer Jony Ive might also do well to rethink the smartphone platform. Consumers certainly have. If the "phablet" renaissance proves anything, it's that buyers don't want a phone so much as an at-the-ready computer that handles as well as a desktop. The message? Apple needs more than an iPhone refresh; it needs a full hardware redesign.

Do you agree? Watch the video below to get Tim's full take, and then leave a comment to let us know whether you'd consider buying an Apple phablet.

On Wednesday, Jabil Circuit will release its latest quarterly results. Even though the tech manufacturer has tried to emerge from the shadows by diversifying beyond its largest customer, Jabil still faces plenty of competition from other companies seeking to stand behind some of the most popular products in technology.

Jabil Circuit is one of many companies focusing on making components for other businesses, giving up its own chance at the limelight in order to facilitate production for its customers and their innovative technological products. But with the nature of the contract-electronics business being fairly cutthroat, Jabil has to be on guard constantly to protect and preserve its lucrative relationships with its customers. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Jabil Circuit over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Stats on Jabil Circuit

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

How Jabil Circuit can push earnings back in the right direction
Analysts have gotten less optimistic about Jabil's earnings prospects recently, reducing their estimates for the May quarter by $0.08 per share and their full-year fiscal 2013 consensus by double that figure. The stock has done a good job of treading water, though, rising about 2% since mid-March.

Jabil is best known for its production of the aluminum case that houses the iPhone 5. The company has done its best to try to diversify away from its smartphone focus, with its purchase of plastics-maker Nypro aiming to help it move more broadly into consumer electronics as well as the unrelated field of health care. Yet Jabil's diversified manufacturing services segment produces by far the most impressive margins for the company, highlighting its continued reliance on the business.

As a result, the big threat that Jabil constantly faces is the potential loss of its customers. Rival Flextronics suffered a huge hit last summer when major customer BlackBerry chose to stop using the company to help it make its namesake smartphones, citing cost-cutting efforts in its decision to make changes to its supply chain arrangements. Flextronics has seen substantial revenue declines as a result, even despite BlackBerry's relative weakness in the smartphone space in recent years. More importantly, the move came at the worst possible time, as BlackBerry has subsequently revived in the face of its latest product launch. Jabil counts BlackBerry as a customer as well, so it should be interesting to see how that relationship has developed in the wake of the Z10 and Q10 smartphone releases.

One area where Jabil is looking to make improvements is in labor costs. The company has cited rising costs in China as one reason why it has boosted its workforce in neighboring Vietnam, with plans to triple the number of workers it has in its Ho Chi Minh City factory over the next couple of years.

In Jabil's quarterly report, look beyond the iPhone to see how the company's business producing networking equipment is performing. With some recent good news in the networking space, success for Jabil's customers in the segment could lead to better results for Jabil as well.

Click here to add Jabil Circuit to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

About a third of American adults have high LDL cholesterol -- that's the bad kind -- but less than half of adults with high LDL seek treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I smell an investment opportunity.

There's just one problem: Generics abound
While there's an opportunity to increase the market for cholesterol drugs, it's likely going to come from generic drugs. Both Merck's Zocor and Pfizer's Lipitor are available as cheap generics.

Sure, the generic-drug companies could benefit from increasing demand, but the products are just a small portion of their overall revenue. Buying for their copycat versions of Zetia and Lipitor isn't exactly an investment thesis.

AstraZeneca's Crestor, which is in the same class as Zocor and Lipitor, is still under patent protection, but having to compete with generics is putting pressure on sales. Pfizer had the same issue with U.S. sales of Lipitor when generic versions of Zocor were introduced. Crestor will remain a megablockbuster for some time, but I wouldn't buy AstraZeneca for it.

That leaves Merck's Zetia, which works to lower cholesterol through a different mechanism. In fact, Zetia has been combined with Zocor to form Vytorin, and with Lipitor to create Liptruzet. The three pills have a good shot at substantial growth, but only after the readout of the Improve-It trial, which is testing Vytorin against Zocor to see if adding Zetia not only reduces cholesterol further but also decreases heart-related events such as heart attacks and strokes.

The trial is scheduled to finish up in September 2014. The Zetia franchise made up 9.6% of Merck's sales in the first quarter, so it could have major implications on Merck's stock price in either direction.

In the works
PCSK9 is the newest target that seemingly every company is going after.

Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have one that's codenamed REGN727/SAR236553. In a phase 2 trial, it reduced bad LDL cholesterol by up to 67.9% compared with a 10.7% reduction in patients receiving placebo.

Amgen's PCSK9 inhibitor called AMG 145 seems to have comparable efficacy, reducing bad cholesterol by up to 66% in patients already taking a statin.

Pfizer, Roche, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals also have drugs targeting PCSK9.

There's obviously lots of competition, and the data are a little too early to pick a winner yet. We'll have to wait for a phase 3 data to figure out which drug works the best.

Just as importantly, we'll need to see which drug is the safest. The companies will initially test the drugs in patients with dangerously high cholesterol levels, but the huge sales will obviously come from the larger population whose cholesterol levels are only slightly elevated. Since that population isn't as sick, safety will be a higher priority. A drug that has fewer side effects might top the sales charts even if it isn't the most efficacious.

Local hardware store chain Orchard Supply Hardware was operating behind the eight ball from the beginning, so its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing this morning isn't much of a surprise.

Following its spin-off from Sears Holding less than two years ago, not only did it have to contend with a heavy debt burden that it was saddled with by its former parent, but it had to make significant dividend payments to Sears all the while it was operating as a housing-oriented retailer focused on the California market. 

I'll admit to thinking that once Orchard Supply was spun off, it would do better, free of its chains to Sears, as it were. But the hooks were still in too deep and it was ultimately unable to effectively compete.

Lowe's , though, could be the big winner here, stepping in as a "stalking horse" bidder and setting the floor for any subsequent bids Orchard Supply may get. It's offered to pay $205 million for the hardware store chain, as well as take over payables for all of its suppliers, just as California's housing market turns on the afterburners. Median home sale prices in the state surged more than 22% year over year in April followed by a 26% spike in May. Lowe's will be acquiring a retailer that will feature a much lower cost structure after its debt is shed in bankruptcy, allowing it to capitalize on the new housing boom.

Yet even with lower costs, Lowe's isn't guaranteed a successful outcome. Efforts at trying to hoodwink the public into believing a large national operation is still a small, hometown chain isn't anything new.

In addition to Orchard Supply, Sears also spun off its home appliances, hardware, tool, and lawn and garden equipment retailer Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores. It reported fiscal first-quarter sales dropping 3% earlier this month as comps fell 5%. Sounds a lot like the "progress" its former parent routinely achieves.

Home Depot also tried its hand at the smaller footprint store. Having run all the mom-and-pop stores out of town after it would move one of its big orange boxes in, Home Depot met with disastrous results with its Villager's Hardware concept in the 1990s when it tried to re-create that local feel. And this was during some booming economic times, too.

But the acquisition does give Lowe's the chance to challenge Home Depot in certain areas that it can easily move into, notably certain urban centers that might be prohibitively expensive to construct new Lowe's stores. 

With the big-box retailer retaining the Orchard Supply name and management team, it's clear it doesn't think the concept was a bad one, just that it had been set up for failure. That should be a key indicator that this wasn't a bad apple that will spoil Lowe's entire barrel but rather some low-hanging fruit on which it can gorge itself.

Watching the mining companies race downhill of late may be terrific preparation for taking in the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia. But it can be a gut-wrenching exercise from an investment perspective.

I'm referring first to Brazil's Vale and London-Based Rio Tinto , two behemoth companies whose shares have plummeted by 34% and 28%, respectively, since the first clock ticks of 2013. However, if I recall correctly, a key tenet of investing involves buying low and selling high. On that basis, the two companies appear to provide patient Fools with extremely compelling opportunities for future profits.

Hardly a VALE of tears
Rio de Janeiro-based Vale, for example, sports a sizable $73.5 billion market capitalization and produces an array of minerals that includes iron ore and pellets, copper, manganese, ferroalloys, cobalt, platinum, nickel, and fertilizers. It also mines precious metals and maintains a variety of Brazilian mining-related transportation systems, including railroads and ports.

But what's most likely to pique your interest in the company are metrics that juxtapose a forward P/E ratio at a paltry 6.45 times with an attractive PEG ratio that sits on the shy side of 0.50. (Remember that the PEG ratio is the quotient derived from dividing a company's P/E by its anticipated growth rate. So numbers below 1.0 become especially intriguing.) At the same time, Vale's operating margin nudges a healthy 30%, and it offers an alluring 5.30% forward annual yield. What's more, a significant portion of its price slide may be tied to weakness in the Brazilian Real.

Robust RIO
Rio Tinto presents a similar picture. The slightly larger -- $80 billion market cap -- company cranks out all manner of aluminum products, along with copper, molybdenum, coal, uranium, and iron ore, among others. It also produces both silver and gold.

At 7.48 times, the company's forward P/E represents only a slightly higher valuation than Vale's. Similarly, its PEG ratio sits a smidgen atop 0.50. At approximately 22.5%, its operating margin is about 25% below its Brazilian competitor's. The company's forward annual dividend yield is 4.20%. It's also worth noting that half of the analysts who follow Rio Tinto rate it a buy, while the remainder all accord it a strong buy rating.

Pour in petroleum
I'm slightly less sanguine about the largest of the world's miners, Melbourne-headquartered BHP Billiton . The company, with a market cap of $168 billion, mines and markets aluminum, coal, copper, iron ore, manganese, nickel, silver, and uranium. More importantly perhaps, apart from its slightly smaller peers, BHP has become a major global oil and gas operator.

As BHP's website notes, its primary petroleum operations are directed toward "largely proven basins, such as the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Australia, and the South China Sea." Beyond that, "We also have a range of promising prospects in the Philippines, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Pakistan, and Malaysia."

Two years ago, BHP paid $12.1 billion in cash to acquire Petrohawk Energy, a leader in the Haynesville shale and the first company to drill a successful well in the prolific Eagle Ford shale.

At 18.3 times, BHP Billiton's forward P/E ratio is substantially higher than Vale's and Rio Tinto's. At the same time, its 3.60% forward dividend yield trails both the other companies.

Freeport's new additions
Finally, BHP isn't the only major mining company that concurrently includes the potential benefits of oil and gas operations. As of last month, Freeport-McMoRan , the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, completed the acquisitions -- for a total near $20 billion, including debt assumptions -- of Plains Exploration and Production Company and McMoRan Exploration.

 In the process, Freeport added domestic petroleum operations in the Gulf of Mexico, along the Gulf Coast (including the Eagle Ford), in California, and in the Rocky Mountain region. Its mining operations continue occur in North and South America, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

When announced in December, the acquisitions didn't sit well with investors, including yours truly. But as the skepticism erodes, it appears likely that Freeport's current 7.80 times forward P/E, its 0.50 PEG ratio, its 30% operating margin, and its 4.20% indicated forward yield will have signaled another undervalued mining-energy combo company.

Foolish bottom line
Admittedly, the world's economy continues to struggle. And I'm admittedly less enthusiastic about the U.S. "recovery" than are many other economists. Nevertheless, given the metrics of the above-mentioned companies, it's difficult to ascertain how any of the foursome represent a better sell than a buy.

The following video is from Monday's Investor Beat, in which host Chris Hill and analysts Andy Cross and Matt Koppenheffer dissect the hardest-hitting investing stories of the day.

DreamWorks Animation announced a multiyear programming deal with Netflix. The partnership will result in 300 hours of original programming as DreamWorks Animation expands even further into the non-movie business. The new programs will be inspired by characters from the DreamWorks universe, including Shrek, the Croods, and the upcoming Turbo. But will the new deal pay off for investors? In this installment of Investor Beat, Andy and Matt discuss the competitive landscape with Amazon and why shares of Netflix still have room to run.

Also, they take a look at why shares of Lowe's, Charter Communications, Terex, and Sony made big moves in Monday's market and discuss why they'll be watching Discover Financial Services and FactSet Research closely this week and why you should be watching, too.

Computer makers aren't helping users navigate the cloud era. And that includes Apple , says Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova in the following video.

The new MacBook Air tops out at just 8 GB of RAM -- a strategic mistake when users have come to embrace memory-hogging cloud computing services on a bigger scale. According to Netcraft, there are now more than 158,000 computers controlled by Amazon.com and its web-hosting service, up from 4,600 just four years ago.

Cloud computing is rapidly becoming the new normal in computing, which means users need systems capable of running in-browser apps faster, more efficiently, and more securely. And that, in turn, demands more memory. Apple had a disruptive opportunity to turn the Air into a cloud-optimized machine, and then whiffed.

But so did Google when it gave just 4 GB of memory to Chromebook Pixel buyers. That's the good news for Apple investors. Today's MacBook Air may be lacking as an onramp to the cloud, but there's still time to remedy the problem.

Think of what might be were Apple to design an Air with 32 GB or even 64 GB of RAM. Even Chromebook Pixel fans would be hard-pressed to pass up the $1,000 MacBook in that configuration. And if Google gets there first? Look out below.

Do you agree? Please watch to get Tim's full take, and then let us know what you think of the new MacBook Air in the comments box below.

For the next few days at least, markets will continue to obsess over Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's every word and intimation, as he and the Federal Open Market Committee discuss the future of the central bank's monetary policy. As for today, Wall Street seemed sufficiently impressed with bullish manufacturing data in the Northeast and confidence from U.S. homebuilders, which reached a multiyear high. That was enough to drive the S&P 500 Index 12 points, or 0.8%, higher, as it closed at 1,639. But despite the broad gains, today's three laggards managed to fall -- big-time.

Frontier Communications leads the list today with losses of 3.3%. The stock had a couple of things not going its way, not least of which was the telecom sector itself -- the only market area (out of 10) to end in the red today. At current levels, Frontier shares are also paying a nearly 10% annual dividend, which may sound unsustainable. If it sounds unsustainable, that's because it may be -- the company paid out 250% of its profits to shareholders in the last 12 months. Nothing can go on like that forever!

Another disproportionate decliner in the index was Gilead Sciences , which stumbled 2.3%. As a biotech focused on preventing deadly diseases across the globe, its stock has amply rewarded investors the last few years -- shares have doubled in the last year alone, and have nearly tripled in the last three. However, with an earnings multiple nearing 30, some are wondering whether the company's current valuation is justified. 

United States Steel finds itself as the last company on this list, with shares having slipped 2.3% on Monday. Earlier this month, the stock found itself as one of the S&P 500's 5 Most Hated Stocks, which basically just means Wall Street is shorting the stock like crazy. Shares have struggled mightily year to date, falling more than 25% as investors cope with the declining revenues and earnings seen in the last fiscal year.

The market was thinking happy thoughts on the eve of the FOMC's two-day meeting and betting on reassurance from Chairman Bernanke, as the S&P 500 and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively.

Some retail therapy for Lowe's
Spin-offs can often be wonderful investments, but there is a way the parent company can ensure it's a disaster instead: saddle the company being spun out with so much debt that it is ultimately forced to file for bankruptcy. This is what Sears Holdings did with Orchard Supply Hardware Stores less than two years ago, or as Orchard put it: "[Orchard's] substantial debt due, in part, to significant recapitalization dividends paid to Sears, made it difficult, if not impossible for the company to right itself."

(Another example of this is Verizon's spin-off of its telephone directory business into a company named Idearc in November 2006. Suffocating under its debt load, Idearc filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy in March 2009.)

But Orchard shareholders' losses could be Lowe's shareholders' gains, as the No. 2 home-improvement retailer looks set to acquire Orchard's assets out of the Ch. 11 bankruptcy process. Lowe's said it would buy at least 60 neighborhood and garden stores in California for about $205 million (and assume its trade payables.) Lowe's is acting as a "stalking horse bidder," setting a floor on the price for the business that other bidders can still top.

The acquisition would add some attractive, high-density locations in California, helping it close the gap in a key market with rival Home Depot.

Johnson & Johnson doubles down on prostate
Meanwhile, Dow component Johnson & Johnson announced it will pay up to $1 billion for Aragon Pharmaceuticals. Aragon's flagship product is an experimental prostate cancer drug that helps patients whether or not their cancer has spread to other parts of the body. In terms of drug portfolio, the product fits in nicely with J&J's blockbuster drug Zytiga, which it obtained in another $1 billion acquisition, that of Cougar Biotechnology, in 2009.

The market appeared to validate J&J's logic, adding 0.85% to the share price today, compared to a 0.23% gain for the S&P 500 Health Care Sector.

Two acquisitions and both look like they make sense -- it's not every day you see that in the market.

You may not have been paying attention, but something big is happening to Cadillac.

Cadillac was once the great American luxury-car brand, but for many years it has kind of been a joke, one more symbol of how far General Motors  has fallen since its heyday.

But lately, Cadillac has been posting some big sales gains, thanks to some surprising new products. It's all part of a long-term plan to make Cadillac a true global rival for BMW  and Mercedes-Benz -- a plan that is among GM's highest-priority projects.

The all-new 2014 CTS is a critical car for Cadillac and GM. Photo credit: General Motors.

Nothing is more critical to that plan than the all-new Cadillac CTS, set to hit dealers this fall. Here's why.

Why Cadillac's revival is a huge priority at GM
GM held its Global Business Conference last week, an annual event where the company goes into great detail about its key strategies and upcoming products. It's a closed-door meeting for Wall Street analysts only, but media folks are allowed to listen in by phone.

I was one of those media folks, and one of the big takeaways from the meeting is that GM's effort to revive Cadillac is a huge, huge deal, driven by a hard-headed business case. That case starts with this: GM sells cars and trucks all over the world, but for many years, much of its profits came from pickup and SUV sales here in the U.S.

That's true at rival Ford , too -- in fact, Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas said last year that as much as 90% of Ford's profits might come from pickups. The proportion is likely considerably smaller at GM, but it's still huge -- too huge for GM CEO Dan Akerson's comfort.

Akerson is a Wall Street veteran who joined GM after its 2009 bankruptcy. He wasn't part of the team that drove GM into the ditch. That means his perspective is different from many Detroit insiders, and it means that he's more willing than many to question the industry's status quo -- and in some ways, more able to see things that insiders miss.

One of the things he saw was a company that was too dependent on the U.S. pickup truck market. Another thing he saw was rival Volkswagen . VW's profits dwarf GM's -- and nearly half of those fat profits come from VW's successful luxury brand, Audi.

Akerson put two and two together and saw that turning Cadillac into a top-shelf global luxury brand would increase GM's profits while decreasing its risk -- something any CEO would like.

But he also knew full well that Cadillac's journey would be a long, hard road. That's where the new CTS comes in.

Why the CTS needs to be excellent
Arguably, the first step on that road came last year, with the compact Cadillac ATS sedan. The ATS was aimed squarely at BMW's 3-Series, one of the finest cars made -- and to the shock of many longtime GM critics, the ATS hit the mark.

Reviewers praised its light weight, fine handling, excellent interior, and overall impression of quality. ATS sales have helped drive big sales gains for Cadillac -- the brand is up more than 37% so far this year, its biggest gains since 1976.

But now comes the bigger challenge: Moving up from there. The ATS is essentially an entry-level luxury car. For Cadillac to have the kind of global credibility it wants, it needs to show that it can play at the higher levels, too.

Cadillac's edgy styling has been refined considerably for the new CTS. Photo credit: General Motors.

GM hopes that the CTS is the car that will make that point loud and clear. It's bigger, far more plush, and starts at about $6,000 more than the mostly well-regarded outgoing model, changes that aim it squarely at Mercedes' E-Class and BMW's 5-Series sedans.

On paper (and in photos, as you can see), it looks great -- more formal than the old car, but still very Cadillac. It carries Cadillac's edgy and controversial "Art & Science" styling forward, but in a more subdued and sophisticated way than its predecessor. Inside, there's good leather and nice wood and a surprisingly long list of color choices and options.

GM neglected Cadillac's interiors for a long time, but now sees interior trim as a place where the brand can excel. Photo credit: General Motors.

There's a lot of technology, too, including quite a bit that is aimed at weight reduction. Low weight is one of the factors in the ATS's success: All other things being equal, lighter cars handle better, accelerate faster, and get better fuel economy.

On that front and many more, GM is hoping to replicate the ATS's success with the new CTS, but at a higher level.

A very big step forward on a long journey, if it succeeds
Even if it's a smash hit, the CTS isn't going to make Cadillac a global contender all by itself. But it's an extremely important step in the journey: GM is hoping to show that the ATS was no fluke, but just the first in a new lineup of vehicles that will make critics and consumers take Cadillac seriously for the first time in a generation.

If the CTS is successful -- and it looks very promising from here -- then that will lend credibility to the Cadillac comeback and raise expectations for the next Cadillac sedan, the much-rumored full-sized "flagship" that is expected in a couple of years. It's expected that GM's goal with that car is to outdo Mercedes' big S-Class, long the benchmark for the very idea of a full-sized luxury car.

If GM can pull that off, then Cadillac will be in a very good position to achieve Akerson's growth and profitability goals for the brand. But the CTS is the critical step in getting from here to there, and that's why GM shareholders should be watching its launch very closely.

Netflix held its annual shareholder meeting on June 7, and it was a stormy affair. Seemingly routine matters like reelecting directors met extremely high levels of shareholder resistance, and four out of five shareholder proposals passed muster despite the board recommending the opposite outcome.

The video king has crossed voting swords with shareholders before, and hasn't always come out on the winning side. But Netflix seems slow to implement these non-binding votes. Will the sheer weight of this year's opposing votes force Netflix to take action?

Netflix Shareholder Votes, 2013 | Infographics.

Check out the final proxy statement to dive into fine detail on what each of the shareholder measures actually means.

The four proposals that met shareholder approval despite Netflix's objections are all designed to increase transparency and corporate governance processes. Corporate governance advisory firm ISS rates Netflix's governance structure a dismal 10, where a score of 1 is excellent and 10 is the worst you can get. The company scores particularly poorly in terms of shareholder rights and audit processes, reflecting the heavy dose of anti-takeover measures Netflix has put in place. Three of the newly approved shareholder actions would make the company an easier target for potentially unwanted buyouts. You can bet your favorite goat that activist investor Carl Icahn voted his nearly 10% holdings in favor of these measures.

The company has failed to act on shareholder votes before, and probably won't implement all of these measures this time. I voted my modest holdings against all of them personally, because I believe in the company's strategic direction and appreciate the need to stave off unwanted takeover proposals. I can think of several oft-rumored buyers that would largely ruin Netflix's global domination strategy due to clashing corporate cultures and long-term goals. And I can't come up with a single buyout idea that makes sense.

Still, I'm in the minority here. I may not agree with your vote, but I'll fight for your right to cast it or the democratic process becomes a moot point. So I'm rooting for Hastings and Co. to take these votes to heart, sooner rather than later. It's the right thing to do if Netflix respects its shareholders at all.

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 Kandi Technologies Group jumped 28% today after the company announced new charging stations.

So what: The company plans to build 30 "pure EV smart vertical parking and charging facilities" in Hangzhou City by the end of the year. The company plans to then sell 5,000 to 10,000 pure EVs in the city within a year after that -- big plans for a very small company that makes primarily ATVs and go-karts.  

Now what: These are big plans for a small electric vehicle player and I'd be very cautious buying into the hype. The company had just $14.7 million in sales last quarter, which was only up slightly from a year ago, and I want to see profits and more history before jumping in. A123 Systems came with similar grandiose plans a few years ago and investors who bought in ended up losing their shirts.

Interested in more info on Kandi Technologies? Add it to your Watchlist by clicking here.

In the end, Kinross Gold had little choice but to walk away from its massive Fruta del Norte gold mining project in Ecuador. Like other nations with significant natural resources in its boundaries, the government of Ecuador has greedily decided it wants a bigger-than-usual slice of the riches and in the process is yet another South American country putting up a "Closed for Business" sign.

Ecuador has said it wants to attract large-scale mining projects, and though it's just a bit player now in the mining industry, being largely unexplored the potential for vast discoveries remains a potent lure.

When Kinross bought the Fruta del Norte project in 2009 for $1.2 billion when it acquired Aurelian Resources, it was described as "one of the most exciting gold discoveries of the past 15 years." As of the close of last year, Kinross said it had 6.715 million ounces of gold in proven and probable reserves, as well as 67,000 ounces of measured and indicated gold resources. Silver was also in relative abundance, with proven and probable resources of 9 million ounces with measured and indicated resources totaling 1.412 million ounces.

IAMGOLD still has an interest in the Quimsacocha gold mine it sold to INV Metals last year, which has an indicated mineral resource estimated at 3.3 million ounces gold. China's Ecuacorriente is also pursing a major copper project at Panantza-San Carlos, and International Minerals will seek out gold and silver at Rio Blanco.

But actions speak louder than words. Where Ecuacorriente chose to pay $200 million up front for royalties on resources yet recovered, IAMGOLD's exit from Ecuador indicates it saw hard battles ahead perhaps not worth fighting.

In Kinross Gold's case, the government attempted to expropriate wealth through an excessively burdensome windfall profits tax that seizes 70% of all profits above the negotiated base price for the metals mined. Such a stipulation makes it uneconomical for major miners to pursue any business there.

The Ecuadoran congress may have passed a law that somewhat encourages small and medium-sized miners to come to the country -- they don't have to sign an exploitation contract with the government and trigger the windfall profits tax so long as they stay below certain thresholds -- but the government still ensures it takes most of the profits by requiring 50.1% of the earnings flow into state coffers. As a result, the country ensures it will never be more than a two-bit petty player in the mining world.

Other governments in South America might not be as rapacious as Ecuador, but the impact of their policies has the same effect. Barrick Gold was brought up short in Chile after it was forced to halt development of its Pascua-Lama project after clashes with the government and indigenous tribes; Newmont Mining had its potentially lucrative Conga gold project stopped in Peru; and Vale was forced to abandon its iron ore project in Argentina where Yamana Gold seems to have regular bouts of trouble.

Kinross was left with little wiggle room in trying to avoid the grasping nature of the Ecuadoran government, but it's a scene we're going to see played out with other miners that have assets in South America and investors should brace themselves for the tumble that always follows.

Botox may be best known for its ability to combat crow's feet and other facial wrinkles, but it also serves an important role in the medical community. Since it was first approved for two eye muscle disorders in 1989 -- cosmetic uses were not approved until 2002 -- the drug has been approved for 26 unique indications in 88 countries. In total, Allergan has evaluated nearly 15,000 patients in clinical trials in the last 30 years and completed an estimated 29 million treatment sessions since the drug's first approval.  

If that doesn't change your perception of Botox, consider that therapeutic uses comprised 52% of the drug's sales in 2012. That share should increase, although Allergan will need to deal with a growing mob of competitors. Given its growing importance to patients and Allergan -- sales made up 31% of total revenue in 2012 -- perhaps there is a bigger opportunity brewing for investors.

Top medical uses
What makes this a $1.77 billion per year drug? Botox is a neurotoxin isolated from Clostridium botulinum. It is used primarily as a neuromodulator -- a chemical that inhibits a nerve impulse -- to treat everything from muscle spasms to compulsive sweating. It remains the most potent neuromodulator known to date. There are 26 indications to choose from, but these three are especially important.

1. Overactive bladder: Botox gained approval for this indication in first quarter of 2013, specifically for individuals who do not respond to the first line of treatment, anticholinergics. Luckily for Allergan, more than half of patients initially prescribed anticholinergics become intolerant or do not respond at all. I don't know what is more amazing -- what that statistic means for Allergan or the fact that it is still discovering new uses for Botox decades after its first clinical trials.
2. Chronic migraines: If you suffer from debilitating migraines lasting longer than four hours at least 15 days per month, then you can be treated with Botox in 56 countries. The condition, which affects 3.2 million people in the United States alone, has crippling social and economic consequences as well. It may go without saying, but a study featured in the journal Neurology in 2008 found that chronic migraine sufferers are more likely to miss five or more days of school, work, and social activities over a three-month period. That pushed Allergan to merge with MAP Pharmaceuticals earlier this year to get its hands on the novel migraine therapy Levadex, which was accepted for regulatory filing in the United States in November 2012. The two therapies give the company a growing stable of migraine treatments.   
3. Uncontrollable blinking (blepharospasm): Botox was approved for blepharospasm all the way back in 1989 and remains one of the most effective treatments. Whereas oral medications improve symptoms for 15% of patients and surgical procedures to remove muscles and nerves in the eyelids work 75-85% of the time, Botox improves symptoms in 93% of those treated. The condition affects approximately five in 100,000 people worldwide.  

Ironically, losing control of your bladder is one of the side effects associated with Botox. There are other serious side effects that can occur in certain individuals or if you get multiple injections within a period of several months. Overall, Botox has a relatively clean safety profile as long as it is used as prescribed. Couple that with its potency -- injections are needed as infrequently as once every three months -- and it is easy to see why other pharmaceutical companies are looking to commercialize similar neurotoxin neuromodulators.

Injecting some competition  
Allergan has licensed Botox to GlaxoSmithKline in Japan and China. The agreement covers all current and future therapeutic indications and allows Glaxo to get its hands on the most widely used botulinum toxin for medical use. That's good, because the competition is really heating up. US WorldMeds had its neuromodulator therapy Myobloc approved in the United States in 2000 for therapeutic use. It marked the first time that Botox had any domestic competition. Myobloc -- along with other neuromodulators discussed below -- is really just a different botulinum toxin. Despite the similarity, there can be only one Botox (thanks to trademark laws), which makes marketing a bit more difficult for competing therapies.

Marketing hurdles have hardly stopped the industry, however. Ipsen and Valeant Pharmaceuticals have received numerous worldwide approvals for Dysport since 2006, including approval in the United States in 2009 (Azzalure in Europe). Dermatology giant Galderma has worldwide rights to cosmetic indications of Dysport, except in the United States, Canada, and Japan. Ipsen and Valeant will pick up sales elsewhere for cosmetic indications and several therapeutic uses. Meanwhile, German pharmaceutical company Merz had Xeomin first approved for cosmetic use in 2009 in Germany and in 2011 in the United States.

The marketplace isn't the only place with competition. Johnson & Johnson is conducting trials for a neuromodulator for cosmetic use to compete with the three approved therapies above. The company expects its Mentor subsidiary to file a Biologics License Application by the end of 2013 at the earliest. And if injections aren't your thing, then you may want to wait for Revance Therapeutics to wrap up clinical trials on its topical botulinum toxin gel. I'm not quite sure how that will work out, but it is being developed for both cosmetic and therapeutic indications.

Foolish bottom line
Botulinum toxins are an important tool for treating various nervous system conditions, not just for getting rid of facial wrinkles. These neurotoxins are being continually evaluated for newer treatments, so perhaps the industry is just scratching the surface of potential uses for this and other naturally occurring toxins. Allergan was the first company to put a botulinum toxin to good use, but there is now a flurry of competition to contend with from some well-established pharmaceutical companies. Nevertheless, I think Allergan should continue to reap the benefits from being the first to market and, of course, trademarking the name "Botox."