Earlier this week, I posed four questions for NVIDIA going into its second-quarter earnings announcement.

Sure enough, the graphics-chip specialist released its Q2 results after the market close Thursday, and NVIDIA stock promptly fell more than 2% in after-hours trading -- this despite the fact that revenue came in at $977.2 million, with GAAP net income of $0.16 per share, beating analyst estimates, which called for earnings of $0.13 per share on $976.4 million in sales.

Let's dig in, then, to see what NVIDIA had to say:

1. Tegra 4 is ready for primetime, but...
First, I wanted to know whether NVIDIA's groundbreaking Tegra 4 line of processors was gaining ground on the competition, especially considering the company told us early in 2013 that Tegra 4 already had more design wins than the previous Tegra 3 line had in total.

Even so, Tegra 4 shipments still haven't begun to truly ramp up yet, so it should come as no surprise that revenue for the Tegra segment fell 49% sequentially, and 71% year over year as the company scaled down Tegra 3 shipments.

That said, while the company is looking forward to a significant jump in Tegra sales as they begin shipping units from Tegra 4-based design wins, NVIDIA management also stated during the company's earnings conference call that, "Due to current dynamics in the mobile space, we believe it will be challenging for Tegra revenue to remain flat year over year as originally expected." 

In short, that's why NVIDIA turned in relatively light revenue guidance for the third quarter of approximately $1.05 billion (plus or minus 2%), which is below average analyst expectations of $1.10 billion.

2. "Shield is doing great." 
Next, I wanted to know whether the Tegra 4-powered Shield is living up to NVIDIA's expectations.

After all, while I've already written that I don't expect the new hand-held gaming device to move NVIDIA stock anytime soon, I couldn't help but wonder whether Shield would suffer after NVIDIA was forced to make the difficult decision to postpone its launch by over a month when they found a hardware defect in one of the final versions.

So, what did NVIDIA have to say? While the company's earnings press release only mentions the device one time to say it will soon move "beyond the U.S.," analysts wasted no time pressuring management for more details on how Shield shipments are faring.

Thankfully, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang chimed in to say:

Shield is doing great, and early reviews are fantastic. [...] Sales have been great, everything that we've shipped so far has sold out. We're just starting to ramp production, and we've only shipped out to our partners several thousand units -- so it's still quite early to tell -- but we're expecting to do quite well with Shield.

3. On the licensing biz...
Next, I wanted to know whether NVIDIA was seeing any movement regarding its recent decision to license its Kepler-based GPU cores and visual computing patent portfolio to device manufacturers.

Funny enough, while the press release once again offered little color, the second question from analysts revolved around -- you guessed it -- licensing.

Unfortunately, Huang offered no new details on when, exactly, we can expect licensing to translate to NVIDIA's top and bottom lines, but instead, he spent some time rehashing the reasons why NVIDIA made the move in the first place.

That's fair enough; after all, NVIDIA only made the initial announcement less than two months ago, so it's hard to expect significant progress by now.

4. On returning capital to shareholders
Finally, I was looking for any updates regarding NVIDIA's previously announced decision to return another $1 billion to shareholders this fiscal year.

As it turns out, in May, NVIDIA executed an accelerated share repurchase agreement with Goldman Sachs, through which NVIDIA paid Goldman $750 million in exchange for 36.9 million common shares of NVIDIA stock. What's more, when the agreement is settled, NVIDIA currently expects that Goldman will be required to deliver additional shares of common stock to NVIDIA per the terms of the ASR.

In addition, NVIDIA has also returned $190 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and traditional share repurchases so far in 2013, which means they've already returned $940 million to shareholders' pockets in the first two quarters.

Foolish takeaway
NVIDIA's report offered no big surprises, and though there's cause for concern over the painfully slow ramp-up in Tegra 4 devices, shareholders can look forward to accelerated growth in that crucial segment over the next few quarters.

But, as a shareholder myself, what am I doing?

Considering NVIDIA trades at a reasonable 15.5 times last year's earnings, and has around $2.9 billion in cash with no debt on their balance sheet (even after the aforementioned massive share repurchase agreement), I'm more than happy to hold onto my NVIDIA stock, collecting the healthy 2% dividend while I wait for their long-term plans to pan out.

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 blue chips fell for the fourth day this week, giving it its first losing week since June, as earlier statements from the Fed hinted that the stimulus taper could begin as early as next month. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 72 points, or 0.5%. With no significant economic reports released today and low trading volume, stocks simply seemed to fall back on the Fed statements from earlier in the week.

Despite the drop, not all Dow stocks took a hit. Alcoa shares were flying higher, gaining 3.9% on a strong trade report out of China, as July exports rose 5.1%, and imports were up 10.9%. The increase in imports was a particularly promising sign for Alcoa, as the aluminum maker is heavily dependent on demand from China and its construction market. The recovery in trade is also good news after a sluggish first half of the year for the Chinese economy. Among other moves, the Chinese government has temporarily removed taxes on small businesses as a stimulus measure. Caterpillar shares also moved up 0.6% today after a 1.9% jump yesterday on similar news.

Leading the Dow's fall today was Disney , which has had a forgettable week since posting earnings Tuesday night, as shares are down more than 5% since then, and today lost 1.6%. The earnings report wasn't terrible, but Disney did warn it would take a $190 million charge for The Lone Ranger flop. With shares already up 30% so far this year, and no significant profit increase reported in the second quarter, the stock is probably ready for a breather.

Finally, Home Depot continued its volatile week today, falling 1.3%, as investors fear that the Fed taper could cool off the housing recovery. Like Disney, Home Depot shares have been bid up extensively this year amid the housing comeback, climbing 30%, as well, on the back of the recovery. But the home-improvement retailer now trades at a trailing P/E of 25, which will be hard to justify if interest rates continue to rise and the housing market cools off. The retailer will report earnings August 20; analysts are expecting earnings of $1.20 per share.

Insurance provider Lincoln National announced today its third-quarter dividend of $0.12 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters, after raising the payout 50%, from $0.08 per share.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Nov. 1 to the holders of record at the close of business on Oct. 10. The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.48-per-share annual dividend, yielding 1.1% based on the closing price today of Lincoln National's stock.

LNC Dividend data by YCharts

Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does Life Time Fitness fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

What we're looking for
The graphs you're about to see tell Life Time Fitness's story, and we'll be grading the quality of that story in several ways:

• Growth: Are profits, margins, and free cash flow all increasing?
• Valuation: Is share price growing in line with earnings per share?
• Opportunities: Is return on equity increasing while debt to equity declines?
• Dividends: Are dividends consistently growing in a sustainable way?

What the numbers tell you
Now, let's take a look at Life Time's key statistics:

LTM Total Return Price data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

LTM Return on Equity data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

How we got here and where we're going
Life Time benched its weight today, as it earned five out of seven passing grades. However, Life Time's free cash flow has shrunk drastically during our tracked period, perhaps as a result of expansion-related construction and equipment-purchasing initiatives. Despite this weakness, the company's shareholders have enjoyed a remarkable growth over the past three years, and the stock is relentlessly recovering from its 2009 lows. Let's dig a little deeper to see how Life Time is working to maintain or grow its position.

Life Time recently announced that it was setting up a joint venture with Globe University, a Minnesota-based accredited college, to put would-be personal trainers through a standardized training process. This is probably necessary, as industry employment is set to rise 50% by 2023, and because there's relatively little effort made to standardize or systematize the education of fitness trainers. At present, there's a wide array of certifications and degree programs available to entry-level trainers, with just as wide an array of prestige and industry acceptance. Since Life Time is one of the few prestige fitness "brands" in a highly fragmented industry, its support of one course of accreditation over others could lead to better trainers industrywide.

Life Time is also slated to open health centers in Reston, Virginia and Montvale, New Jersey in 2013, followed by six more centers across the country by the first quarter of 2014. It is quite evident that Life Time Fitness is trying to build a robust platform for sustainable growth through both geographical expansion and new programs. This aggressive plan is also likely to be behind the divergence between net income and free cash flow, but that shows no sign of slackening yet.

Putting the pieces together
Today, Life Time Fitness has some of the qualities that make up a great stock; but no stock is truly perfect. Digging deeper can help you uncover the answers you need to make a great buy -- or to stay away from a stock that's going nowhere.

Pay-TV subscribers are a tough bunch to keep hold of.

DISH Network lost 78,000 of them last quarter. Comcast saw 159,000 vanish from its books. Time Warner Cable had 191,000 of them bolt in the second quarter.

All told, about 380,000 fewer people are paying for TV video service than at the same time a year ago, according to a Moffett Research report cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Sure, many of these companies booked higher revenue, as gains in broadband and other services offset the loss of video subscribers. And while the cancellation numbers are bad, they don't point to a quick collapse of the pay-TV model. This year's defection figures are actually a bit lower than 2012's. Still, pay-TV providers are in a serious bind. Programming costs are forcing them to hike prices, while online video services can keep prices low and soak up all of the subscriber growth.

These shows don't come cheap
Content costs have been spiking all around. Comcast's programming expenses grew by 8.1% last quarter. Thanks to more fees and the higher price of sports content, the company expects costs to rocket higher by 10% over the full year. Time Warner Cable saw its costs jump by 8.5% last quarter, as well.

The tricky part for pay-TV providers has been passing those rising expenses along to customers. They've been using a mix of price increases and service fees to keep their average revenue figures climbing along with their expenses. But with each tick higher, more customers decide to end their TV video service.

Choices are getting better
That decision is getting easier now that the alternatives have improved. Amazon.com's streaming service boasts 41,000 movies and TV shows available at no extra charge to Prime subscribers, as compared to the 18,000 titles it claimed a year ago. Netflix is spending upward of $2.5 billion annually for content, including hundreds of millions on exclusive and original shows.

Sure, these streamers are paying higher prices for their programming, too. But one major advantage they have is flexibility when it comes to choosing content. If a show or package gets too expensive, they can walk away, as Netflix did this year with its Viacom deal for MTV and Nickelodeon shows. Paying less than $10 per month, most online streaming subscribers expect to find something they want to watch -- even if it isn't exactly what was available on the service last month.

Contrast that situation with DISH Network's latest quarter. Price increases sent the company's per-subscriber revenue up by $3.30 to hit $81 a month, but the cancellation rate spiked along with it. Pay-TV providers can't help but continue to price subscribers out of the lower end of the market.

Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does Skechers fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

What we're looking for
The graphs you're about to see tell Skechers's story, and we'll be grading the quality of that story in several ways:

• Growth: Are profits, margins, and free cash flow all increasing?
• Valuation: Is share price growing in line with earnings per share?
• Opportunities: Is return on equity increasing while debt to equity declines?
• Dividends: Are dividends consistently growing in a sustainable way?

What the numbers tell you
Now, let's take a look at Skechers's key statistics:

SKX Total Return Price data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

SKX Return on Equity data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

How we got here and where we're going
This is perhaps the worst performance ever recorded by any company on this analysis. We've seen several companies squeak through with a lone pass, but this is the first time in memory that one has failed every single test. Moreover, Skechers puts together a ridiculous percentage decline in free cash flow, which started from very close to zero, and has ended up pretty far away from it. In theory, things can't possibly get worse; but reality can be a harsh mistress. Will Skechers' fundamental weaknesses catch up to it in the end?

Skechers isn't on an uncontrolled downward spiral just yet -- the company's net sales rose 12% year over year in its latest quarter. Skechers has been recovering rather well from the toning-shoes disaster of 2011, but the damage of that poorly conceived fad continues to linger in the company's rear-view mirror. Skechers' management expects the upward trend to continue in the second half, as well, due to the apparent success of worldwide marketing campaigns.

Skechers also posted impressive growth in its e-commerce business, as sales soared by 37% in the recent quarter. International sales also spiked by double-digit percentages, with majority of new demand coming from China, Chile, and Canada. However, the European market has remained a drag on overall sales growth due to its ongoing economic woes. The company is aggressively expanding its geographical reach into new international markets, which will enable it to compete with global leaders such as Nike and Adidas -- this expansion includes plans to open up to 50 new stores by the end of the year. Deckers Outdoor is also pushing hard into international markets. It expects to add 30 more stores by the end of 2013, two-thirds of which will be located in Asia.

Both Nike and Adidas are also keeping an eye on the Chinese market to boost their international sales. Last year, Nike opened its first running and basketball store in China. The sports-apparel leader has very high expectations for the upcoming World Cup in Brazil, which ought to expand its soccer-related sales. Adidas, which is second to Nike, currently holds an 11% market share in China. It has sponsored top soccer teams such as Germany, Spain, and Argentina in the World Cup, which will drive its revenue growth in the near future.

Putting the pieces together
Today, Skechers has few of the qualities that make up a great stock; but no stock is truly perfect. Digging deeper can help you uncover the answers you need to make a great buy -- or to stay away from a stock that's going nowhere.

Youku Tudou isn't a pretty picture today. Share's of China's fast-growing streaming video provider opened 8% lower -- trading off by as much as 12% a few moments later -- after posting uninspiring quarterly results.

The report itself was generally positive. Pro forma revenue climbed 30%, to $122.8 million, and we're going with pro forma here so we don't inflate last summer's needle-moving acquisition of Tudou.

More advertisers flocked to Tudou, and the average sponsor is spending more to reach its growing base of viewers. As the dot-com speedster experienced cost savings behind the combination of Youku and Tudou, its quarterly loss narrowed by 40%, to $0.10 per ADS.

The bad news here stems mostly on Youku's top-line guidance for the current quarter. Wall Street's already perched on the high end of that range.

There's no denying that digital video consumption will continue to grow in China, and Youku points out that mobile usage more than doubled through the first six months of the year. A healthy 180-million hours were spent consuming Youku clips on mobile devices in June alone.

Youku doesn't own this market. It thought that it would be the undisputed champ when it completed its purchase of Tudou last August, but Baidu is getting in the way.

Baidu took control of iQiyi last year, and acquired PPS three months ago, making this a tighter race for supremacy. Traffic tracker has Youku's sites attracting 14 million daily unique visitors in June against the 13.9 million combined daily unique visitors through Baidu's two properties.

As the world's most populous nation, naturally, there's plenty of room for several players. Dominating the market the way that YouTube does closer to home would be ideal. Advertisers would have no choice but to pay up to get their video material in front of a sizable audience. However, there's still a lot of money to be made, even with the way that things stand now.

Youku's 30% pop in pro forma revenue is actually an acceleration from the 21% year-over-year gain it posted three months earlier. No one should be surprised to see that video -- and, more importantly, the monetization of digital video -- grow faster than other Internet niches. The real question here is when Youku will be able to do this profitably.

"We do not want to forsake future growth opportunities for short-term profitability," Youku pointed out during the earnings call, when asked for some visibility on when it will turn that corner. Analysts see that happening at some point next year.

Youku shares had hit a fresh 52-week high earlier this week, so a step back in light of financials that didn't blow the market away is natural.

Now, investors will merely have to wait for its next snapshot to come in a little less red -- and closer to black -- in another three months.

Senior oil and gas producer Canadian Natural Resources  announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.125 Canadian per share. It has made quarterly payouts to investors since April 2001.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Oct. 1 to the holders of record at the close of business on Sept. 13. The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.50 Canadian-per-share annual dividend, yielding 1.6% based on the closing price today of Canadian Natural Resources' stock..

CNQ Dividend data by YCharts

Regional property and casualty insurance State Auto Financial announced today its third-quarter dividend of $0.10 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past three quarters, after cutting the payout 33%, from $0.15 per share.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Sept. 30 to the holders of record at the close of business on Sept. 11. The payout marks the 89th consecutive quarterly dividend declared by the company's board since its IPO in 1991.

The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.40-per-share annual dividend, yielding 2% based on the closing price today of State Auto Financial's stock.

STFC Dividend data by YCharts

Silver miner Silvercorp Metals announced yesterday its third-quarter dividend of $0.025 Canadian per share. The dividends are considered eligible dividends for Canadian tax purposes.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Oct. 21 to the holders of record at the close of business on Sept. 30. The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.10 Canadian-per-share annual dividend, yielding 3.2% based on the closing price today of Silvercorp Metals' stock.

SVM Dividend data by YCharts

Investors love stocks that consistently beat the Street without getting ahead of their fundamentals and risking a meltdown. The best stocks offer sustainable market-beating gains, with robust and improving financial metrics that support strong price growth. Does 8x8 fit the bill? Let's take a look at what its recent results tell us about its potential for future gains.

What we're looking for
The graphs you're about to see tell 8x8's story, and we'll be grading the quality of that story in several ways:

• Growth: Are profits, margins, and free cash flow all increasing?
• Valuation: Is share price growing in line with earnings per share?
• Opportunities: Is return on equity increasing while debt to equity declines?
• Dividends: Are dividends consistently growing in a sustainable way?

What the numbers tell you
Now, let's take a look at 8x8's key statistics:

EGHT Total Return Price data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

EGHT Return on Equity data by YCharts

Source: YCharts. * Period begins at end of Q2 2010.

How we got here and where we're going
Unfortunately, 8x8 doesn't quite knock it out of the park, as it earned only four out of seven passing grades. Over the past three years, return on equity has dipped substantially, despite growing revenue and net income. However, 8x8's shareholders have enjoyed monster growth, which can make it easier to overlook fundamental mediocrity. Can 8x8 continue to deliver superior performance in the future if its fundamentals continue lagging its share price? Let's dig a little deeper to find out.

Recently, 8x8 posted a better-than-expected quarter, which builds on the strength of its subscriber growth -- the company reported 14,260 new subscribers from 2009 to 2013, and its revenues have been growing at an impressive 32% annual clip since 2007. It is evident that 8x8 has continued to leverage more lucrative opportunities across its core communications markets.

Also, 8x8 recently demonstrated a "Cloud-Based Call Center," which will enable small and mid-sized business customers to operate call centers under the popular cloud model -- in essence, customers will host their call center operations on 8x8's hardware. It's not necessarily new, as outsourced call center operations are familiar to anyone who's tried to reach a customer service rep in the last few years; but this move allows businesses with fewer resources to take advantage of the same low-cost services long used by big business.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger notes that 8x8 has plans to upgrade its call center products by the end of this year. In addition, it is focusing on some technological innovations that will provide high-quality IT services to cost-conscious telecom clients. However, 8X8's competitors MagicJack VocalTec and Vonage aren't about to give up ground in cloud-based services. These two companies have already pushed VoIP rates into the floor with brutal competitive efforts, so they've got to find new growth avenues somewhere. Vonage recently developed an app to allow free video calls for smartphone users, and its improved IP-based telephony systems will put it in direct competition with 8x8's cloud-based call center.

Putting the pieces together
Today, 8x8 has many of the qualities that make up a great stock; but no stock is truly perfect. Digging deeper can help you uncover the answers you need to make a great buy -- or to stay away from a stock that's going nowhere.

Flow measurement products-maker Badge Meter announced today its third-quarter dividend of $0.18 per share, a 6% increase in the payout it made last quarter of $0.17 per share.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Sept. 13 to the holders of record at the close of business on Aug. 30. The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.72-per-share annual dividend, yielding 1.5% based on the closing price today of Badge Meter's stock.

BMI Dividend data by YCharts

Laser manufacturer Electro Scientific Industries announced today its third-quarter dividend of $0.08 per share, the same rate it's paid since it began making payouts in 2012.

The board of directors said the quarterly dividend is payable on Sept. 3 to the holders of record at the close of business on Aug. 19. The regular dividend payment equates to a $0.32-per-share annual dividend, yielding 2.9% based on the closing price Electro Scientific Industries' stock.

ESIO Dividend data by YCharts

Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they've bought and sold, via "13F" filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let's look at respected investing company Royce & Associates, founded in 1972 by Chuck Royce, who is known as a small-cap guru. The company's flagship fund is its Pennsylvania Mutual (PENNX), which has averaged close to 14% annually since its inception more than 40 years ago. That's darn impressive. Per the folks at gurufocus.com, its Premier Fund (RYPRX) has grown by 833% over the past 20 years, vs. 388% for the S&P 500. Royce's approach is one of long-term value investing.

The company's reportable stock portfolio totaled $32.4 billion in value as of June 30, 2013.

Interesting developments
So what does Royce's latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details:

The biggest new holdings include Microsemi and Beacon Roofing Supply. Other new holdings of interest include Capstone Turbine . Capstone is a smallish company, making low-emission microturbines used in power generation. Its top line has been growing by double-digits over the past few years, but its just-reported first quarter featured revenue down a bit, and net losses, though the losses have generally been shrinking in recent years. Capstone has announced a bunch of promising deals, and its order backlog has been hitting record highs. Bears worry about the threat posed by the growth in residential solar power.

Among holdings in which Royce & Associates increased its stake were Penn West Petroleum and InvenSense . Penn West, which drills for oil and gas, has been struggling in an environment of low natural gas prices. Its recent second quarter featured revenue down 33%, though that was ahead of analyst estimates, and earnings improving, though remaining in the red. Its stock featured a dividend yield near 8% recently, but that has been reduced to the 5% neighborhood.

InvenSense, a leader in the motion-sensor market, supplies millions of smartphones and tablets. Its last quarter featured revenue up 43%, and the CEO noting that, "Customer design activity and confirmed design wins at customers has never been stronger." Better still, he expects the good times to keep on rolling in the coming quarter. Bulls like its innovation, and see its technology being added to millions of iDevices.

Royce & Associates reduced its stake in lots of companies, including Radian Group . Mortgage insurer Radian has been one of the most popular stocks among hedge funds -- for good reason, apparently, as it has nearly quintupled in value over the past year. The recovering housing market is helping Radian, along with tighter lending rules, likely to lead to greater need for its coverage. Its recently reported second quarter featured losses narrowing, and a 60% increase in newly written mortgage insurance. Delinquent loans are a risk for Radian, as is strong competition. In July, its number of delinquent loans dropped a bit.

Finally, Royce's biggest closed positions included Magellan Midstream Partners and Belo. Other closed positions of interest include Walter Energy . Walter is a pure play in metallurgical coal, needed by the steel industry, among other things. But demand and pricing for coal has been weak lately, and Walter's stock is down some 72% over the past year, partly as a reaction to it slashing its dividend by 92% a few months ago (to help it address debt). There seem to be few catalysts likely to propel the stock in the near future, though a big uptick in manufacturing would help.

We should never blindly copy any investor's moves, no matter how talented the investor. But it can be useful to keep an eye on what smart folks are doing. Therefore, 13-F forms can be great places to find intriguing candidates for our portfolios.

Shares of Universal Display are raising Mr. Market's eyebrows this morning after immediately popping more than 17%.

If you're searching for the reason, look no further than the OLED technologist's second-quarter earnings results, which absolutely annihilated analysts' estimates.

Specifically, Universal Display's revenue grew 65% year over year, to $49.4 million. What's more, net income came to $15.4 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, which is up 40% and 43%, respectively, from the second quarter of 2012.

For reference, analysts were expecting earnings of just $0.26 per share on revenue of $38 million. That revenue growth, for its part, was led by a whopping 111% increase in material sales, which jumped to $27.1 million last quarter as Universal Display's customers continue to incorporate OLED into an everwidening array of products.

Next, royalty and license fees grew 37%, to $21.2 million, primarily thanks to UDC's twice-annual collection of a chunky licensing payment from Samsung Display, which management previously told us would rise by a third, to $20 million this year.

On licensing...
Of course, that brings up another interesting question: Why, exactly, is Universal Display only collecting $1.2 million in licensing fees from its dozens of other customers? Sure, Samsung is by far its largest customer, so it makes sense they would pay more... but $20 million?

To answer that, remember that Universal Display has a couple different models for how customers can purchase its technology and materials.

With the first -- which most UDC customers employ -- the customer pays a higher price for a smaller amount of the materials, and a lower price for short-term royalty agreements.

As that volume grows, however, it makes more sense for UDC customers to negotiate a lower average sale price for a higher volume of material purchases. In exchange, UDC gets to enjoy a long-term agreement with larger licensing payments. As it stands, though, Samsung is currently the only customer selling enough OLED-enabled products -- and thus purchasing enough materials -- to merit utilizing the second option.

Surprise?
If you thought you sensed just a little sarcasm in the headline, you would have been mostly right.

Why mostly? Because analysts are admittedly getting a little better at forecasting Universal Display's revenue and earnings -- they weren't off by a full $20 million on the revenue estimates, after all -- but they're still having a heck of a time gauging just how fast Universal Display's material sales are increasing.

But for those of you keeping track, this pop wasn't really a surprise at all, but instead, simply looks like more of the same from Universal Display. Remember last quarter? Yep, that was the one where I cautioned shareholders not to panic after Universal Display plunged 16% after posting a "surprise" loss.

In fact, extending the five past knee-jerk reactions I pointed out last time around, this marks the sixth time in as many quarters that Universal Display has either popped or plunged at least 10% as a seemingly direct result of whether the company is due to collect its chunky licensing payment from Samsung.

For future reference, then, let me break it down: In the first and third quarters of each year, Universal Display does not receive its licensing payment from Samsung. In the second and fourth quarters, it does!

Of course, that doesn't mean these predictable swings are guaranteed to last forever. Eventually, as OLED displays permeate the marketplace, and material sales continue to grow, more customers should opt for long-term licensing agreements, and Samsung will no longer be the deciding factor for whether Universal Display actually turns a profit.

Foolish takeaway
So who's next? If I was a betting man, my money would be on LG Display , which recently launched the first large screen OLED televisions at select brick and mortar Best Buy locations here in the U.S.

If you recall, earlier this year, LG told investors that it is dedicating more than half its 2014 capital expenditures budget to advancing the technology and building out its OLED infrastructure, all in an effort to stay ahead of the curve, as other companies including Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic are breathing down its neck with yet-to-be-launched gorgeous OLED TV offerings of their own.

Of course, those electronics manufacturers all stand to make a pretty penny by selling the next big thing in displays, but it's no mystery that I'm convinced they're not the best place to park your investing dollars to benefit from the trend.

In the end, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: When it comes to profiting from the coming onslaught of OLED devices, all roads lead to Universal Display.

Western Union shares soared 34%, year-to-date, trumping the S&P 500's gain of 18.5%. Despite the stock's success, however, it is time for me to bid it farewell.

On Jan. 9 2013, I made a CAPScall on Western Union. My investment thesis was simple: it was undervalued. At the time, the company traded at just 6.7 times forward earnings estimates. I believed that the company's scale, combined with low expectations, would reward investors over the long haul.

Though my pick more than doubled the market's returns during that time period, I'm not ready to pat myself on the back.

Straying out of my comfort zone
When I buy stock, I think of it like a business, and I plan to hold for the long haul. Likewise, I've been trying to practice this philosophy with my CAPS picks, too. Recently, however, I was scrubbing through my picks, and I realized I had to say goodbye Western Union. Low expectations or not, it just isn't looking like a business I want to hold for a lifetime.

Western Union's second-quarter results left me wanting. Revenue declined 3% year over year due to falling prices. Despite transaction growth, it looks to me like the company's pricing power may be waning and hampering the top line.

Meanwhile, expenses crept upwards, increasing 3% year over year. With revenue and expenses trending in different directions, the company's operating margin is suffering. Despite a gallant share repurchase program, reducing the share count by 9%, EPS and operating income were down 18% and 20%, respectively, year over year.

Reflecting on my initial reason for buying the stock, I think the purchase was a mistake. The focus of my investing strategy is on buying businesses that I feel comfortable holding a lifetime. Instead of analyzing that aspect of Western Union back in January, I was simply fixed on my belief that the stock was undervalued. With this pick, I strayed from my investing strategy. Though the outcome was great, I'm not proud of the underlying method I used to make my investment decision.

The ultra long-term approach
I subscribe to the belief that the best way to invest over a lifetime is to follow Warren Buffett's advice from his 1989 letter to shareholders: "Time is the friend of the wonderful business, the enemy of the mediocre."

Though Western Union still seems undervalued, it's not a business I can see myself holding in 10 years. For that reason, I'm out.

It's been a wild week for solar stocks, driven by an earnings season that's seen everything from blowouts to complete duds. The following chart shows how some of the major newsmakers shook out -- in some cases, even those bouncing back later in the week ended down.

FSLR Total Return Price data by YCharts

I'll cover the major earnings news of the week and what investors should take away as earnings season moves forward.

Chinese earnings pick up steam
Chinese manufacturers began announcing preliminary results, and they're beginning to improve. Trina Solar said shipments would be 630 MW to 660 MW, which was 130 MW above previous guidance. Gross margin of 11% to 12% was also well above the middle single guidance given last quarter.  

Yingli Green Energy saw similar improvement, with increasing gross margin in a range of 11% to 12%, and said shipments will grow 23% to 24% sequentially, from a previous guidance of percentage growth in the low to mid-teens.  

Trina and Yingli offered guidance figures, and we still don't know what the bottom line looked like, but Canadian Solar did report its earnings for the quarter, seeing similar results. The company shipped 455 MW, generated a gross margin of 12.8%, and lost $12.6 million, or $0.29 per share.  

Conditions are clearly improving in the Chinese manufacturer market as seen by improving margins across the board and higher shipments. What these companies aren't reporting is a profit at this point. If Chinese demand picks up, margins improve in Europe, and Japan continues to have high sales prices, then we may see companies with low debt loads come close to a profit later this year.

First Solar and SunEdison report duds
The big losers of the week were First Solar and SunEdison , which reported disappointing earnings. First Solar's results show a particularly sharp decline in demand despite the solar industry's strength this year. The company's pipeline of solar projects is down so far this year, and with little to no demand outside its systems business, earnings are falling. To make matters worse, cost per watt of $0.67 is similar to the sale price of some Chinese modules, but instead of an increasing utilization rate we saw at Trina, Yingli, and Canadian Solar, First Solar's utilization is falling.

SunEdison saw an increased backlog of projects, but its wafer business is struggling to make money in a highly competitive solar supply market. Sales and margins were down dramatically from a year ago, and the company swung to a loss of $0.19 per share. The eventual shift to being primarily a project builder should be a good strategic move, but it was a tough transitional quarter, and investors had no patience for earnings misses this week.  

Foolish bottom line
Over the next few weeks we'll get more detail on how companies did in the second quarter, particularly in China. Trina Solar reports on Aug. 20, and Yingli follows on Aug. 30, with smaller companies scattered throughout the back half of the month. Look for increasing margins, debt levels, and third-quarter guidance to paint the picture of how solar companies will perform in the second half of 2013.

Overall, the solar industry is doing well, but there will still be companies that fail and companies that win a disproportionate amount of business. The upside for winners is huge, but as this week showed, there's still a lot of risk in solar stocks.

Consolidated Edison reported earnings last week, missing on the top line but making up for it on the bottom line. The dividend stock has dropped off 5.7% in the past three months while Mr. Market has reached all-time highs. Let's take a closer look to see whether Consolidated Edison can still pull profits for your portfolio.

Number crunching
Consolidated Edison sales clocked in at $2.82 billion, 1.7% higher than Q2 2012 and just $30 million shy of analysts' expectations. While revenue didn't quite cut it, the utility pulled through with net profits. Analysts had expected adjusted EPS of $0.57, but the company added an extra two cents per share this past quarter. Unfortunately, the earnings beat still falls below 2012's second-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.61.

For a peck of perspective, here's how Consolidated Edison's trailing-12-month sales and adjusted EPS have fared over the past five years (essentially since the bottom of the Great Recession). Sales have slumped off 11%, while profit has fallen almost twice as much, down 21.3%.

ED Revenue TTM data by YCharts

Focusing on fundamentals
Although net income beat analyst expectations, Consolidated Edison saw earnings per share drop almost across the board compared with Q2 2012. The biggest dip came from a $0.09 drag on the company's competitive energy businesses. Looking back over the past six months, this generation division's losses are equal to the utility's overall $0.44 seasonally adjusted slump.

Consolidated Edison's unregulated division isn't alone in the dumps. Exelon's earnings took a dip because of lower-than-expected power prices, and the utility announced an extra $350 million and $400 million reduction off its 2014 and 2015 sales, respectively, as it expects cheap power to persist. Likewise, TECO Energy missed on the bottom line because of cheap coal prices, an energy source that the vertically integrated company relies on along its entire supply chain. With the recent $950 million acquisition of a regulated natural gas utility, TECO seems to be taking its future diversification more seriously.

But unfortunately for Consolidated Edison stock, the trouble didn't stop with unregulated assets. The company's regulated utilities saw a $0.04 drop in EPS for Q2 2013 compared with the same quarter last year. Digging deeper, the numbers reveal that taxes took the largest toll on this division's earnings.

It seem Uncle Sam is through giving utilities a break. While Consolidated Edison had to absorb higher depreciation and property taxes this quarter, Entergy felt its own earnings squeezed by higher income taxes. Entergy has managed to maintain its 2013 earnings guidance, but tax losses are equivalent to around a third of the total value of its expected annual earnings.

Is the price right?
Over the past year, Consolidated Edison stock has lost 5.8% of its value, compared with a 7.8% gain for the Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index and 23.9% gain for the S&P 500.

ED data by YCharts

The utility currently offers income investors a 4.1% dividend yield with a long history of steadily increasing payouts. With Q2 solidly behind it, Consolidated Edison reaffirmed its full-year forecast range of $3.65 to $3.85 per share. This latest earnings report doesn't bring big news to Consolidated Edison investors, but it does reiterate what many shareholders love to hear: slow and steady. This stock is far from soaring, and it might not even be a market beater, but if you're in it for stable earnings and a dividend drip, Con Ed delivered again.