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 biotechnology firm Ariad Pharmaceuticals, surged 40% today after European regulators recommended the continued use of its leukemia drug Iclusig.

So what: The stock plummeted last month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration temporarily suspended sales of Iclusig due to blood clot risks, so today's favorable decision by the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use naturally comes as a massive relief to investors. Of course, as my Foolish colleague Sean Williams noted after Ariad's big Halloween plunge, Iclusig's potential toxicity raises plenty of uncertainty over its adoption rate going forward. 

Now what: Management remains positive about Iclusig's prospects.

"The conclusions reached by the CHMP, which were announced today, confirm a positive benefit-risk assessment for Iclusig after considering the most recent safety information," said Ariad's general manager in Europe, Jonathan Dickinson. "We expect that this will provide helpful guidance for patients and health care professionals as they consider the treatment options."

So while Ariad certainly remains too speculative for average investors, today's positive news, coupled with the fact that the shares remain well off their 52-week high, make the stock an interesting opportunity for biotech-savvy Fools.

As the Dow Jones Industrial Average trades slightly above 16,000 this afternoon, Kansas City had some positive news for investors. The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's manufacturing composite index increased to seven in November, up from six in October -- any reading above zero indicates expansion. On Thursday, Philadelphia also reported that area factories continue to expand in November. Manufacturers appear a bit more hopeful regarding the next six months, which is a good sign for the economy. With that in mind, here are two industrial juggernauts making headlines today. 

Boeing is leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher again, after taking a breather for a couple of days. Boeing, up 2.14%, is the largest gainer in the index today while a couple of headlines swirl around the aviation giant.

Bloomberg, which is hosting a two-day conference in Chicago, reported that United Continental Holdings is interested in Boeing's new 777X planes to increase its competitiveness against Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates. "We're going to look at it. We haven't made a decision," United Continental Holdings CFO John Rainey told the news service.

This comes just days after Boeing dominated the opening day of the Dubai Airshow with its 777X, bringing in nearly $100 billion in orders for that aircraft alone. In other 777X news, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says St. Louis is a prime option for Boeing's production of its next-generation 777 airplane.

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., concurred in a statement, according to the Associated Press. "The St. Louis region is home to a skilled workforce with deep roots in the aviation industry and is an ideal production site for Boeing's new 777x aircraft project. I'm pleased that Boeing is considering St. Louis as a top contender for this initiative, and I'll be working hard to make the case to our friends at Boeing that St. Louis is the best place to build this aircraft."

Boeing employs roughly 15,000 people in Missouri. The the company is expected to select its 777X production site within three months.

Ford's F-Series full-size pickup. Photo credit:Ford

Outside of the Dow, Ford has continued to dominate competitors with North America margins that consistently exceed 10%. That's mainly due to the F-Series full-size pickup truck, Ford's best-selling and most profitable vehicle .Ford recently announced the truck's sales have already passed last year's full-year mark of 645,316 units in the U.S. market. If you do the math, that means this year on average one F-Series truck is sold every 42 seconds.

That pretty much ensures that Ford's highly profitable F-Series will reign champion as the United States' best-selling vehicle for its 32^nd straight year.

"If our truck business continues at this rate through the end of the year, we will reach 60,000 F-Series sales for eight straight months, putting us on par with 2006, before the economic downturn," said Erich Merkle, Ford sales analyst, in a press release.

Ford considers any month in which more than 50,000 F-Series are sold to be a great month. With that in mind, see Ford's favorable results below.

Graph by author. Information from Ford's monthly sales releases.

Ford's Edge Concept vehicle. Photo credit: Ford

Ford is investing in and adding jobs at a stamping plant in New York where  employees produce doors, quarter panels, hoods, fenders, and other stamped parts for the Ford F-250, F-350, Flex, Edge, Focus, and Econoline, as well as the Lincoln MKX and MKT.

Ford's been on a tear since the depths of the recession, redesigning its vehicles to deliver more value and better fuel economy. With demand for its new vehicles driving higher and higher, Ford is continuing toward completing its goal of creating more than 12,000 hourly jobs in the U.S. by 2015 -- a goal it's more than 75% of the way to accomplishing.

Ford this week announced it will invest $150 million and add another 350 jobs at its Buffalo Stamping Plant, which opened in 1950 and has 650 employees. Ford said the job additions in Buffalo are a combination of new workers, transfers, and employees coming back from temporary leave.

"We produce crucial components for several key vehicles in Buffalo," said Paul Kosaian, director of manufacturing for stamping operations at Ford. "With the help of our UAW and government partners, we were able to secure additional jobs and investment to keep Buffalo Stamping Plant competitive and efficient."

Some of those parts produced go into Ford's Edge, pictured above, that aims to grow its market share in the fast-growing utility segments as its next-generation model hits the showrooms as a 2016 model. In addition to its just-announced Buffalo plans, Ford is also investing $16 billion in its U.S. product development and manufacturing operations and has already announced plans to hire 2,200 salaried workers in the U.S. in 2013. 

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On this day in business history...

The world of cinema changed forever on Nov. 22, 1995, when Toy Story premiered. It was the first feature film to be entirely computer-animated, and it marked the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership between Disney , the film's financial backer, and Pixar, the pioneering animation studio behind Buzz and Woody. This partnership became a family a decade later, when Disney acquired Pixar in 2006.

At the time of Toy Story's release, Pixar was owned by Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and then-CEO of NeXT Computer. Jobs' control of Pixar would be a point of contention in the negotiations between Pixar and Disney that would eventually lead to Toy Story -- the Pixar crew had originally planned to produce a half-hour TV special, but Disney film honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg insisted on a feature film during an initial meeting. His financing terms were extremely high: In exchange for support, Katzenberg wanted the rights to Pixar's 3-D animation technology. Jobs, whose career had been built on proprietary software (and hardware), understandably refused this demand and countered with deal that allowed Pixar part-ownership of the film's characters, as well as video and sequel rights.

However, Disney was in a much stronger position, as Pixar was nearly bankrupt. Jobs and Pixar were forced to cave to a deal that granted Pixar only about 12.5% of the ticket revenue and nothing further. The deal was signed in mid-1991. Disney did not get access to Pixar's animation technology, though, and this critical bargaining chip proved more important than the take for Toy Story over the long run.

Production also proved contentious. Numerous rewrites left the film a steaming mess, requiring a completely new script and a brief production shutdown. Toy Story's shooting script was finally approved in 1994, but the tech-heavy crew soon ballooned from 24 to 110 people. Toy Story's initial $17 million budget was not going to cut it, and by this point, Jobs had endured several years of frustration at a time when he was also swimming in red ink at his post-Apple start-up, NeXT -- that company first posted a narrow profit in 1994. As the film's premiere drew near, Jobs' initially underwhelmed attitude changed to excitement as the Toy Story came together, and he decided to take Pixar public soon after the film's release.

Toy Story's success was immediate, and it earned virtually unanimous acclaim. Released over the Thanksgiving holiday, Toy Story earned $39 million in its first week of release and remained in first place at the box office for three straight weeks. By the end of the year it was the top-grossing film in the country, and it eventually went on to sell $362 million worth of tickets around the world.

Pixar has released 13 more completely computer-animated films since Toy Story made the company a household name. Every single one has managed to earn at least $300 million in global box-office receipts, and the total take for all 14 Pixar films now stands at $8.6 billion. That doesn't count the merchandising bonanza Pixar has created through these films -- the Cars franchise, Pixar's crown jewel, is by itself responsible for more than $10 billion in global merchandising revenue.

Investors in The Fresh Market have learned the hard way that no matter how sound a company or how appealing its sales growth, valuation can keep a tight lid on returns. The Fresh Market is a phenomenal grocery store and is growing fast, with 10 new stores opened in the just-ended quarter. Its future is nearly guaranteed to be bright, as long as management sticks true to the original vision. The problem right now is that Mr. Market awarded The Fresh Market with a valuation somewhere in the thermosphere, and it allowed for little to no room for unforeseen events -- such as a tepid economic recovery.

Earnings recap
Given the stock's near-20% slide in Friday's trading, it would be easy to believe The Fresh Market delivered a dismal quarter. Really, though, it wasn't. Sales rose 14% year over year to $364.5 million. Net income didn't show much growth -- about $200,000 more than in 2012, while earnings per share remained frozen from the year-ago period at $0.23. Analysts, though, wanted $0.26 per share and north of $370 million in revenue.

Same-store sales bumped up 3.1%, while gross margin expanded 40 basis points. Further down the income statement, margins took a hit from increased SG&A expenses.

Looking ahead, Fresh Market management expects full-year fiscal 2013 EPS in the range of $1.42 to $1.47 per share. Previously, the company had guided $1.50 to $1.55 per share.

The market did not take any of this news well, and has punished the stock accordingly. Including today's drop, the stock is down close to 20% in 12 months. Prior to today, it had been nearly flat.

How can a company that is set to open more than 20 stores this year and increase comparable sales (top- and bottom-line boosters) be performing so poorly on the market? Should investors take a step back?

Reasonably valued today
Though it is by no means a cheap stock, The Fresh Market, for the first time in a while, looks like a buy at less than 22 times forward earnings. This company is growing fast. The market fell for it too hard, too soon, and it's been paying the price for several months. Now that valuation is back in the realm of reason, investors have an opportunity to earn some alpha.

The Fresh Market has some debt on its books and not a ton of cash -- about $36 million in long-term borrowings with a little under $15 million in cash. But, in this high-growth phase, investors have nothing to worry about. The company's cash flow is strong and management is pouring everything it can back into the business. In a few years, when the store count has built out substantially and the company reaches greater scale, investors may see this stock really flex its muscles.

The Fresh Market is a long-term growth pick and, as of today, a great candidate for a buy.

Attractive grower economics and improving crop conditions have been pushing demand for crop protection products in North America. Some factors, like declining natural gas costs in North America, are benefiting fertilizer producers in the U.S. -- but other businesses in the industry are taking a big hit.

Potash and phosphate prices are exposed to volatility and significant uncertainty following a recent decision by the world's largest potash maker, Uralkali Group,  to exit the biggest potash cartel, triggering fears of an industrywide price war fear. Moreover, nitrogen fertilizers' prices are expected to drop below 2013 levels, with volumes remaining relatively flat, driven by a decline in total planted corn acreage next year.

Given these circumstances, let's see how three fertilizer producers handle the pressure.

PotashCorp: Bad pricing environment
First, we have Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan , which has mining rights to the world's largest potash reserve.

Competitive pressure and lower pricing across all three nutrients has affected the company big time. Third-quarter earnings dropped 44.8% to $356 million year over year. PotashCorp president and CEO Bill Doyle stated: "The most recent quarter can best be characterized as a predictable response to an unpredicted event" referring to Uralkali's decision and its consequences.

India is a key market for the company, and weak demand in the country has made PotashCorp cut its earnings forecast for the full year. The Indian government's decision to reduce potash subsidy levels, along with higher retail pricing and local currency devaluation, pushed demand levels to their minimum. The average realized potash price dropped 18% year over year last quarter -- a hard drop for PotashCorp to absorb.

However, more than half of the world's estimated new potash supply will come from the company's projects between now and 2015. If prices make a correction, PotashCorp will surely profit from it.

CF Industries Holdings: Focusing on nitrogen
Second, we have one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers, CF Industries Holdings .

This company's performance has dropped significantly as well. Third-quarter net earnings fell 41.9% to $234.1 million year over year, driven by lower fertilizer pricing and intense competition. Nitrogen net sales decreased 20% year over year because of lower volume and prices.

Nonetheless, nitrogen products remain the leading business for the company, accounting for 83% of total sales last year. In fact, in order to strengthen its nitrogen-centric programs, CF Industries decided to dispose of its phosphate business this past October, selling its phosphate mining and manufacturing business to Mosaic for $1.4 billion in cash. This initiative could make a difference in the future.

Agrium: Retail performing well despite challenging quarter
Finally, we have Agrium , a leading global wholesale producer of all three major agricultural nutrients.

Not surprisingly, the third quarter of 2013 was disappointing for Agrium. Net earnings dropped from $129 million to $76 million in one year, driven by delays in crop nutrient purchases produced by a late growing season in North America and uncertainty in the fertilizer market. Gross profit fell 13.2% year over year, pushed by lower pricing and production outages.

The outlook is not very positive for Agrium: Phosphate prices are expected to remain soft, and demand in India, a key market, is expected to remain weak as well. However, despite the big challenges ahead, the retail segment reported its second-strongest third quarter in history, reaching $147 million in operating earnings, versus $121 million  in the year-ago quarter.

Bottom line
The three companies are facing a scenario that could lead to big changes in the industry, with the possibility for restructurings, mergers, and/or acquisitions ahead. The market will eventually find equilibrium prices and provide greater certainty about its future. Until then, we will have to be very selective and pay close attention to how prices evolve. The opportunities should appear sooner, rather than later. 

PotashCorp is wrestling with a combination of weak demand and pricing pressures. If these variables improve, the company will likely start growing again, but don't expect that upswing anytime soon.

The pricing environment is affecting Agrium in a big way as well, and despite its good momentum in the retail segment, wholesale needs to make major improvements.

But CF Industries may have a brighter future. Its decision to withdraw from its phosphate business is a wise idea. This area was facing strong pricing pressure, and now the company will be more focused, which could lead it to better profitability in the near term.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has had a pretty quiet day as investors begin dreaming about turkey and stuffing next week. The only mildly interesting data point out Friday was a rise in job openings to 3.91 million in September, up from 3.84 million in August. The report is one of a long string of economic reports that show a slow and steady improvement in the jobs market, which hasn't improved as fast as many have hoped.

The big move in the market today came from Intel , which may be making investors sick with its volatility this week. Yesterday, Intel was the best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average by gaining 2.7%. Today, it's by far the worst performer, falling 5.3%. But why?

Turn back the clock 24 hours
Yesterday's pop was driven by CEO Brian Krzanich's announcement that Intel would quadruple tablet chip volume and open up manufacturing plants for use by outside developers. This gave investors some hope that Intel would be able to take some share in tablets and mobile phones after being largely shut out of the market.  

PC sales have fallen dramatically over the past year. That has resulted in falling revenue for Intel, something the new strategy is supposed to remedy.

Intel system on a chip die. Image courtesy of Intel.

Pesky outlook hits again
Today's drop occurred because management said sales would likely be flat in 2014, which was disappointing considering the upbeat tablet production numbers. Wall Street's guess of 1.4% growth didn't help matters. When analysts get their guesses wrong there can be a harsh reaction in the stock, even though this is the first time Intel itself has told us what to expect in 2014.

The real story today is a disconnect between when Intel's mobile strategy will begin to impact sales and what investors expected. Intel's most impressive mobile chips, based on a 14 nm infrastructure, won't even be available until mid-to-late 2014, so why would investors expect a pickup in sales next year?

For the first half of the year, Intel will see a drag from falling PC sales and little pickup in tablet sales, simply because it hasn't been designed into many devices. Any mobile sales pickup will happen in the second half of the year and in 2015 when new chips hit the market.

Foolish takeaway
Wall Street often wants fast results from corporate turnarounds, but Intel's process to get into mobile has already taken years. Chips need to be designed, capital equipment needs to be built, and then chips need to be designed into devices. The process takes time; while we now understand Intel's strategy more clearly, it will still take time to build revenue growth.

Long term, I don't think the investment thesis behind Intel changed today. In fact, investors are getting a discount from a day ago. The company's strategy is in the right place, it'll just take a while to play out, so investors need to be patient.

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 DFC Global , a provider of short-term loans and pawn loans to underbanked people and communities, dropped as much as 14% after withdrawing a $650 million proposed debt offering.

So what: Under normal circumstances, cancelling a debt offering might be viewed in positive light as taking on debt is rarely seen as optimal -- at least in the eyes of shareholders. But this proposed $650 million offering was going to be used to essentially refinance an existing senior loan, which comes due in 2016 and currently boasts an interest rate of 10.375% -- ouch! According to DFC Global, it cancelled the tender offer due to "current market conditions."

Now what: I would normally hint that this seems like a bit of an overreaction to pulling its bond offering, but to be unable or unwilling to refinance existing debt with a rate above 10% in this environment seems worrisome. In addition, DFC's most recent quarterly report (and the report prior to that) points to a weakening business. Its check cashing, money transfers, purchased gold, and overall consumer-lending revenue were down noticeably. The stock is certainly inexpensive on a forward basis, but I believe DFC Global has a lot of kinks it still needs to work through before it gets back on track.

The genetically modified seeds business, where soybeans and corn remain the stars, is experiencing strong demand in the U.S. and Brazil. Three big players are looking into getting a bigger piece of the seeds business. What are they up to?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 90% of the world's soybean production comes from the Americas, which has approximately 200 million acres dedicated to this crop. Regarding corn, U.S. farmers planted 97.4 million acres last year, and although early industry forecasts point for a modest reduction in corn acres, soybean acreage is expected to increase, especially in Brazil and Argentina, where pricing and local currency devaluation have become big incentives.

Let's see how the three top companies in industrial agriculture are handling these trends.

Monsanto: Cash coming up from acquisition
First, we have Monsanto , which produces seeds, biotechnology trait products, and herbicides. As a global provider, the company has a leading position in every key corn-growing region.

The company reported weak results for its fourth quarter of 2013, with a loss per share of $0.47 from operations. However, revenues of $2.2 billion increased 5% year over year.

The good news for Monsanto going forward is that the company expects a contribution to earnings coming from its $930 million acquisition of The Climate Corporation. The company's unique predictive analytics software and know-how will boost Monsanto's integrated farming system platform. Monsanto wants to position itself as a leader in the field of data sciences, which will be the next major breakthrough field in agriculture. Big data processing will help develop better seeds, and considering that Monsanto is already getting data in every single region, the opportunity is enormous.

Syngenta: Seeds division trying to catch up
Then we have Switzerland-based Syngenta AG , which produces herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, and seeds.

The third quarter for the company showed an 8% year-over-year hike in sales, which reached $2.9 billion. Latin American operations grew 17% compared to previous year on a constant exchange rate basis. Strong demand of corn and soybean in Brazil and the U.S. pushed herbicides sales up 14% year over year.

Removing currency fluctuations, Syngenta experienced double-digit growth in seeds and crop protection. Brazil's demand for soybean seeds was the main driver of this growth, to the point that management expects record plantings of this crop, pushed by a strong commodity price and the depreciation of the Brazilian Real.

Thanks to its constant innovation, the company remains a global leader in crop protection. However, Syngenta's share of the genetically modified seeds market is not as big; it's still well behind Monsanto and DuPont. In fact, the company licensed Monsanto's Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean trait in the North American market, showing that its products were not technologically ready to compete in such market. Unfortunately, developing a better relative position in seeds will take years.

DuPont: Seeds gaining share
Normally referred to as DuPont, EI DuPont de Nemours & Company is a global chemical and life sciences company, and a leader in developing and producing corn hybrid and soybean varieties.

The company is experiencing strong momentum in its agriculture business, driven by higher corn seeds and crop protection sales. The agriculture division, which accounted for 30% of sales in 2012, is gaining market share in seed genetics following strong planting activity in North and Latin America. Developing markets are key for growth, and management expects sales in these markets to make up 40% of DuPont's sales by 2015.

As you probably heard, R&D is very important for DuPont, and during 2012 the company launched a record number of new products, including 154 new corn hybrids and 33 new soybean varieties. This quarter, the company introduced 470 new products, and its pipeline has numerous products coming up.

Bottom line
Monsanto should give investors a surprise in the near future, assuming its data-gathering acquisition pays off. In the long run, turning "big data" into actionable insights will help Monsanto's seed products remain absolute market share leaders, making it harder for its peers to catch up.

Despite having good research and development, it is hard to foresee a scenario in which Syngenta improves its share in the genetically modified seeds market. Nonetheless, plantings and overall demand in Brazil could give sales a boost. The company, however, will retain its leadership in crop-protection chemicals.

In the case of DuPont, its strategies for further development of its seeds and crop protection products, along with the growth in its market share, should drive more growth for the company. But since DuPont is very diversified, the performance of other divisions might substantially alter its overall results.

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 voxeljet AG jumped as much as 12% today after falling up to 45% for the week. Is this a sustainable bump or just a dead cat bounce?

So what: There was a lack of market moving news out today but the sharp decline in voxeljet's shares are enough to bring in some buyers. Remember that it was only a week ago that shares popped after a pretty decent earnings report.

Let's put all of these pops an plunges into some perspective. Voxeljet's management expects about 11 million euros, or about $14.9 million in revenue for all of 2013. In the fourth quarter, it expects to ship four -- yes FOUR -- 3-D printers and only has seven total in its backlog.  

This is what investors are getting for buying a company that currently has a market cap of $548 million.

Now what: Today looks like nothing more than a dead cat bounce to me, or a short-term jump in a stock that's headed south over the long term. Voxeljet has a lot to prove before it will be worth its current market cap and has a lot of competition along the way. I think investors got ahead of themselves buying into the 3-D printing craze and would be wise to wait for leaders to emerge before betting on a high risk stock like voxeljet.

Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary, Harvard president, and front-runner to take over the Federal Reserve before bowing out this fall, was interviewed at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council in Washington, D.C., this week. 

Here's my partial transcript of his remarks, lighted edited for clarity.  

On getting rid of the corporate repatriation tax: Say you have a library with lots of overdue books. There are a few things you can do. One, have an amnesty, where you wave all fines. That could make sense. Or you could say, we'll never have amnesty, and tell people to bring back your books because you're not going to get amnesty, ever. That's harsh, but it could also make sense. The idiotic thing to do is put sign on door saying, no amnesty now, but stay tuned, maybe we'll have one next month. That's the dumbest thing to do.

But our tax debate for the last five years has been exactly that. There's a constant hope of a repatriation tax holiday in the future. Why would any company bring back money in the face of that? We should have a territorial tax system, eliminating the distinction of repatriated profits and non-repatriated profits, and establish a minimum tax on global income. Fifteen percent, say. You pay that whether you bring it back or left it in Ireland, so there's no longer an incentive to keep money offshore.

The biggest business growth of the last decades has been in China and places like that. But the biggest income growth has been in Ireland and the Cayman Islands. It shouldn't be that way. It doesn't make anyone more competitive to have it that way. 

Asked if we should focus on deficits or growth: We've been told the deficit is the defining problem of the country. But the debt forecast shows debt to GDP will decline over the next 10 years. So for 10 years, the problem is at hand.

Confident and competent management is hard to put too high a price on. When Costco CFO Richard Galanti was asked what the company would do differently because of the shorter holiday season, he simply said, "It doesn't matter, I mean every pre-holiday Christmas day is better than a post holiday Christmas day, but overall we're approaching it the same from an inventory standpoint and it being fairly positive on our buying." In a season of misgiving, that's a refreshing view.

Shorter season pulls retailers down
Sometimes the calendar hurts retailers, and this is allegedly one of those times. Thanksgiving falls on November 28, which is the latest day it can hit. That means that the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas -- also known as the holiday shopping season -- is the shortest that it can ever be.

In addition to the short season, retailers are coming off a soft year for sales overall. Target , for example, just announced a lackluster quarter, with CEO Gregg Steinhafel putting some of the blame on slow economic growth. That's not going to change in the next month and a half.

As a result of the broad weakness, Target, Wal-Mart , and other retailers are all warning the market not to expect much for Christmas this year. Wal-Mart is looking forward to an aggressive holiday season as it competes for consumers' limited dollars.

Ignoring the competition
The beauty of Costco's plan is that it's based on what it wants to do, not what competitors are doing. The company now has 71.2 million members. That's a dedicated user base that allows it to focus on its core competencies rather than stretching to meet the expectations set by other retailers.

That's what helps Costco keep its laser focus. It sees itself as its biggest competition and the service that it provided the last time the customer was in the store. By focusing on beating that expectation, rather than the price down the road, it continues to win more and more dedicated customers -- membership grew by 1.3 million in the fourth quarter.

The end result of Costco's strategy is that it ends up being the driver of price pressure for other businesses. Sometimes that means that the company prices things lower than normal margins would allow, but it does so on its own terms. Those sorts of decisions keep loyal customers coming through the door, keep Costco out in front of its competitors, and keep investors coming back for more.

Non-small-cell lung cancer is responsible for 80% of all lung cancer cases. Treatment for this type of cancer has a market value of more than $4 billion, which is expected to rise to near $7 billion by 2019. There are a number of treatments available, including Avastin from Genentech/Roche, Alimta from Eli Lilly, Tarceva from Genentech/Astellas Pharma, and Iressa from AstraZeneca .

Avastin is used to treat a number of cancers and is the big fish in the pool. It generated global sales of $6.1 billion in 2012 and $3.4 billion for the first half of 2013, a 12% rise. Avastin is the highest sales-generating product for Roche and benefits both from growth in existing markets and from being a new therapy to treat different cancers.

Alimta is often used in combination with other treatments but is primarily a lung cancer drug. Its global sales of $2.6 billion accounted for 11% of Eli Lilly's 2012 revenues, which was a 5% gain on 2011 and a 13% gain for the U.S. market.

The other common treatments enjoy smaller shares of the market. Tarceva, a lung and pancreatic cancer treatment, had global sales of $1.4 billion in 2012. Iressa, on the other hand, generated a more modest $611 million in revenues. 

It is within this market that new drugs are hoping to find an advantage. The primary driver for new therapies will always be better efficacy with fewer side effects, but genetic factors are increasingly become deciding factors in a therapy's success.

The phase 3 study for selumetinib, developed in partnership between AstraZeneca and Array Biopharma , is finally under way. Selumetinib's advantage is that it is compatibility with other, potentially more effective, cancer treatments. Selumetinib is undergoing studies for patients with the KRAS mutation, which AstraZeneca estimate accounts for 25% of the non-small cell lung cancer patients. Patients with the KRAS mutation do not respond well to existing treatments, so Selumetinib has the potential of been first through the door as a treatment option.

Initial results have been positive, but AstraZeneca is also studying benefits of the drug for use in non-KRAS mutation patients. While there is no timeline for the release of a commercial drug, AstraZeneca's commitment to the treatment has been made clear with the 45 studies it has performed using selumetinib. 

Mutation in another gene, EGFR (which is mutually exclusive to the KRAS mutation), can also lead to certain cancers including lung cancer. Primary drug therapies, Tarceva and Iressa, were developed to target lung cancers of patients with the EGFR mutation. Unfortunately, associated mutations can interfere with these treatments in EGFR-positive patients.

It's in this space that we find Clovis Pharmaceuticals , a $1.4 billion market cap company that is effectively a lung and ovarian cancer biopharmaceutical company. Its research program is built around CO-1686, a treatment that is not only geared toward patients with the EGFR mutation but also the resistance mutation T790M. It's this mutation that impedes the action of Tarceva and Iressa in EGFR-positive patients.

Approximately 50% of lung cancer patients with the T790M mutation do not see a benefit from Tarceva and Iressa therapies. There are currently no approved treatments for patients with the T790M mutation, meaning that there is a large commercial market opportunity for companies capable of isolating a successful treatment.

Clovis has reported a respectable initial response to its CO-1686 treatment, albeit in a very small sample; eight of nine evaluable patients experiencing tumor shrinkage greater than 10%. The company is also looking at an improved formulation which would require lower dosages of the drug, reducing the potential for side effects that are common with other EGFR therapies. This new formulation has not resulted in any side effects to date, although dosage studies remain under way. The company is looking to early 2014 to begin a Phase II study using the new formulation. The goal is to begin an initial registration study for the first half of 2014. 

Ariad Pharmaceuticals had worked the T790M angle with a phase 1 study in 2011 and a phase 2 study earlier this year. AP26113 is a dual-action treatment, targeting lung cancers caused by two mutations; one of these was EGFR. The company noted in its most recent conference call that it was continuing with its AP26113 studies. The company anticipates that it will have sufficient clinical data to fully evaluate the potential for its use in EGFR/T790M-positive lung cancer patients by the end of this year.

If the company can deliver positive findings for AP26113, it should certainly boost what is now only a $470 million market cap company.

Conclusion
The treatment of lung cancer is a complex dance of environmental and genetic factors, but the financial reward for those companies able to offer effective treatment is substantial. After all, as long as there are tobacco products to smoke there will always be lung cancers to treat.

Despite a crowded market of therapies, none are able to offer an all-encompassing solution. This creates opportunities for companies to build a niche with treatments that could comfortably generate $1 billion to $2 billion in annual sales. Some of the smaller names in the sector are worth watching, but even for a larger company it looks like there's a strong revenue stream to tap right now.

Why the P/E ratio is not always the best measure of "value." Join Motley Fool analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson as they look at the latest on Janet Yellen, give the bull and bear case for Citigroup, and take a listener's question about valuing financial companies.

After years of letting its mobile competition take the lead, Intel seems poised to make mobile a major priority. The company just introduced new plans to speed up its mobile chip offerings, but Intel is still closely tied to the PC industry and its competitors are already years ahead of Intel -- leaving investors wondering if the company can ever catch up.

Planning ahead, falling behind
Part of Intel's new strategy is to ramp up mobile chip designs, including having two new chips inside tablets and smartphones by 2015. The chips will be the first Intel Atom processors with an integrated modem, which has become an important feature because it prolongs mobile device battery life. But Intel's chips fall far behind competitors like Qualcomm , which is already on its third generation of integrated mobile processors. 

Qualcomm is the dominant force in smartphone processors, and the company is looking to hold onto its lead with its recent announcement of its new Snapdragon 805 processor. Qualcomm's new chip is designed for the high-end market, and will have the capacity to record and play back ultra HD 4K video and will achieve 40% faster graphics processing than the previous Snapdragon.

But Intel isn't looking to build a vast mobile processing kingdom like Qualcomm's just yet. The company wants to grab a small amount of large mobile contracts first. To do this, Intel is trying to accelerate its mobile position by taking an ARM-based smartphone chip and replacing it with Intel technology, called SoFIA. Intel then wants to sell the chips in tablets priced around $100. This decision speeds up Intel's time frame for bringing cheaper processors into tablets, but it doesn't necessarily mean the company will enjoy mobile revenue that much faster.

Easier said than done
Despite Intel's plans to move further into mobile, the company is still massively tied to the PC market. A recent Financial Times article said that even if Intel's tablet ambitions paid off next year, the new tablet chip sales would only add about $600 million in revenue -- not much considering Intel's total annual revenue was $54 billion in 2012.

Although Intel is speeding up its mobile offerings timeframe, it's not likely the transition will pay off anytime soon. This past quarter, Intel's PC division brought in $8.4 billion in revenue and its data center division brought in revenues of $2.9 billion, while its other divisions lost money. Intel investors should be cautiously optimistic about the company's mobile ambitions, keeping in mind that Intel still has a long road ahead before it can make any significant gains against its mobile competitors.

After market close yesterday, The Fresh Market dropped its third-quarter earnings announcement, and things looked rough. While the chain managed to increase sales at a modest rate, it sees trouble ahead, and was forced to lower its earnings forecast for the fiscal year. On the earnings call, CEO Craig Carlock avoided putting the blame on competition, but investors see the problem clearly. Fresh Market is battling Whole Foods for top-dollar customers... and it's losing.

The tale of the sales
Fresh Market has been expanding, and recent pushes into California and Texas have put the once regional player in direct competition with Whole Foods' core customers. The difference in comparable-sales -- sales from stores open for more than a year -- growth tells most of the story. Whole Foods grew comparable sales by 5.9% year over year last quarter, putting growth at 6.9% for the full fiscal year. In its last quarter, Fresh Market managed just a 3% increase.

Carlock didn't want to point the finger at competition, and when asked about the drain on comparable sales, he said that competition wasn't much of a factor. That's simply not true.

The market for high-end groceries is expanding, and Whole Foods took more of that market growth than Fresh Market did -- and it took it without sacrificing margin. Whole Foods beat out Fresh Market on gross margin, showing the strength that the brand has.

Can Fresh Market bounce back?
Fresh Market's biggest problem is that it's fighting too many battles at once. The company was poised to open in California this year, and then the chance to open four stores in Houston came along. The company jumped on the opportunity -- probably good for the long run -- but forced itself into multiple fights instead of focusing on just one. The Houston stores have suffered already, with sales slow to grow due to a lack of brand recognition.

To get back on the right track, Fresh Market needs to focus on keeping what it's got, and only taking on one major market at a time. Carlock seems to recognize the tight situation that the company put itself in, but 2014 is already under way. If any adjustment is going to be made to the overall expansion strategy, it's not going to be seen until 2015.

With that in mind, I'm worried about Fresh Market next year. Whole Foods isn't getting any weaker, and Fresh Market seems to be doing a lot of learning on the fly. If it can get Houston under control and better manage -- which is to say focus on -- its California bid, I think it can still do great things. If it all gets out of hand, this is going to be a nightmare. Right now, Whole Foods holds all the cards, and Fresh Market seems to be scrambling just to get back in the big game.

3-D printers have exploded onto the scene, and publicly traded 3-D printing companies like Stratasys and 3D Systems have seen their stock prices soar as the technology serves up rapid adoption rates that have outpaced expectations. But could a potential flood of self-printing printers threaten the leading desktop 3-D printers along with major 3-D printing companies' future gross margins?

The RepRap project
Anyone familiar with 3-D printing is also familiar with the RepRap project. What is the RepRap community project all about? It's an open-source 3-D printer revolution aimed at making self-replicating machines that are freely available for everyone.

Investors in the 3-D printing space take the RepRap project seriously. Though it's not a company, it is competition to publicly traded players -- particularly to consumer FDM 3-D printers like the Stratasys MakerBot and the 3D Systems Cube. In fact, a 2012 study by Moilanen and Vaden asserted that RepRap printers are the world's most widely used 3-D printers.

Should 3D Systems and Stratasys investors be worried about the development? Or, more specifically, could this open-source development grow to the point that it begins to drive consumer-printer prices down? That's a very real possibility -- and one of the factors that have kept Motley Fool industrials analyst Blake Bos from making any recent bullish calls on Stratasys.

Meet the Mini Metal Maker, the missing link to self-printing 3-D printers
The just-unveiled Mini Metal Maker is, in more ways than one, an illustration of how printers could print competition.

First, parts of the Mini Metal Maker were printed with the MakerBot. And there will be plenty of other creative makers printing new printers with the help of existing printers.

Second, since the Mini Metal Maker is able to print metal parts at home, it helps the RepRap print parts to duplicate itself that couldn't be printed at home before. In a recent interview with Mini Metal Maker David Hartkop, he explained how the Mini Metal Maker is another key step to self-printing printers.

Notably, Hartkop's Mini Metal Maker is still in the prototype stages. But it does illustrate the threat of new printers that could easily flood the marketplace with the help of existing printers. Sure, even if the Mini Metal Market came to market as a finished product, it wouldn't compete directly with Stratasys or 3D Systems -- it's simply too different from the MakerBot and the Cube. But it does illustrate the potential competition that could arise from printed printers.

The S&P 500 climbed above the 1,800 mark for the first time this week, with the index taking just over six months to go from hitting the 1,600 milestone for the first time to its latest achievement. But when you look at the companies with the biggest negative returns over that time frame, you find five names that stand out: J.C. Penney , Abercrombie & Fitch , D.R. Horton , HCP , and Broadcom . Let's take a closer look at these five stocks to figure out why they held back the S&P's advance so much.

Source: NOAA.

J.C. Penney has lost almost half its value since the S&P hit 1,600 in May, and its travails have been well documented. The retailer's earnings report last week gave some investors hope that J.C. Penney is hitting bottom, but it still has a lot of work to do to return to profitability and convince shoppers that it has learned from its mistakes in trying to eliminate its discount focus. As usual, the holiday season will bear out whether Penney is truly back or whether this is just the latest in a long series of disappointments for the former retail giant.

Abercrombie & Fitch has lost 30% in the past six months, facing its own challenges in its teen-retail niche. Reporting last week as well, A&F reported a 14% plunge in same-store sales, with Hollister and the core Abercrombie & Fitch brand both posting particularly bad comps. Even worse, company executives expect the bad comp picture to continue during the holiday quarter. Although A&F is doing its best to cut costs in order to maintain solid profits -- the company actually beat earnings estimates despite the big sales decline -- the retailer needs to get its customers to spend more if it truly wants to turn things around.

Homebuilder D.R. Horton has struggled with the rest of the homebuilder segment, falling 28% since May. Rising interest rates spooked investors into believing that the recent rise in home prices could come to an abrupt halt, but economists believe that a gut-check for the housing market might actually help sustain longer-term growth down the road. Still, peers have seen sales and orders start to slow down, and that could pose longer-term troubles for D.R. Horton if things don't turn back up soon.

HCP fell victim to the same interest rate issues as D.R. Horton, with the real-estate investment trust being extremely sensitive to rising rates and losing 27% of its value since May as a result. The long-term threat is that higher financing costs could hurt HCP's profits. But it has successfully managed to keep its dividend rising steadily over the years for nearly three decades, and depending on the impact of the Affordable Care Act, the senior-housing REIT could keep benefiting from demographic trends favoring more demand.

Down 26% in the past six months, Broadcom has been the odd company out in the mobile-chip market, with industry leader Qualcomm consistently taking the spotlight away from Broadcom's challenger status in the industry. The problem that it has faced is that although it has managed to hold its own in providing high-end products for mobile-device makers, it hasn't been as successful in serving the lower-end part of the market. Broadcom needs to prove it can stand up to its rivals in defending both parts of its market and sustain and grow its overall market share in order to succeed.

Not all of these stocks are must-sells at this point, but if you own them, they definitely deserve a closer look. Even after substantial losses, risk levels in these stocks are sky-high, and missing out on the S&P's gains suggests that you might do better with alternative investments.

The BMW M8 is rumored to have the same platform as The BMW i8 (09/2013). Photo: BMW. 

It's rumored to have 640 to 670 horsepower, thanks to an upgraded version of the M5's direct-injected 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8. It can go 0-62 in about 3 seconds, is made from materials such as carbon fiber and titanium -- which could give it the best power-to-weight ratio of any BMW street car -- and is the first supercar from the blue-spinner crew since 1981.

What is it? It's BMW's M8 -- the possible next step in BMW's pursuit of the "ultimate driving machine." And it could be making its debut in 2016.

If the M8 platform is the same as the i8, this is what the M8 could like like from the back. Photo: BMW.

Still just a concept
In 2016, BMW turns 100 years old, and what would be better than to mark the occasion with a supercar capable of competing with Volkswagen's Audi's R8, and Daimler's Mercedes Benz SLS AMG? Not much, I'd argue. However, as of right now, the M8 is still just a concept. But here's what we might see if it does make it to production.

The platform of the M8 is BMW's i8 eco sports car. Further, the structure could be made of lightweight material so that the M8 will achieve the 2,760-pound target weight and have a top speed around 200 mph. However, unlike the i8, the M8 will probably be powered by gas.

More importantly, as carsales.com.au said: "The M8 would add much-needed fire to a brand slightly sagging under the weight of luxury demands. A tyre-shredding, carbon-fibre, sleekly styled Ferrari basher with 0-100km/h times in the low-three-second bracket and a 300km/h-plus top speed is just what M car dreams are made of."

Not for the masses
If the M8 makes it to production, it's highly likely that it'll be extremely limited. Further, Car and Driver estimates that the M8 will be priced around $330,000, although other estimates place the price closer to $500,000. Consequently, it's unlikely that the M8 will have a significant impact on BMW's bottom line. But that's not really the point of a supercar like this: The M8 is more about bragging rights. And if the production car is like the concept, the M8 could have bragging rights in spades. Clearly, that'd be great news for BMW's brand image -- and good news for BMW's investors.

Still, even if the M8 never becomes reality, BMW has a lot going for it. In October, BMW reported that for the fist 10 months of 2013, BMW had record sales. Global demand was also continuing to trend positively, and when it comes to luxury brand sales, BMW is second only to Mercedes.

Further, according to The Wall Street Journal, BMW sales in China have grown 20% -- that's in comparison with the estimated 10% growth. Considering China is one of the fastest-growing luxury markets, this is especially good news.

The supercar of the future?
BMW claims that it designs the "ultimate driving machine," and the M8 could very well live up to that claim. But even if BMW never builds the M8, it could still make a solid addition to your investing portfolio. Plus, if BMW does build the M8, it could grab some serious bragging rights. That's always a good thing when it comes to luxury brands.