While Apple managed to offer a very small Black Friday discount on the iPad Air, Amazon came in aggressively on Cyber Monday with big discounts on its tablets and an ad making fun of the iPad Air. Will the attack work for Amazon?

It's tough at the top
Being the world's most valuable publicly traded company has its fair share of challenges. In fiscal 2013, Apple raked in a whopping $37 billion in net income. You can bet numerous companies are doing everything they can to get a slice of this pie. Even a small sliver of that could move mountains for tech behemoths like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Apple's gross profit margins of 35%-plus are the envy of the industry, and these companies are fighting to get in on the cash. As Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has said, "Your margin is my opportunity."

Strategic attacks to nab Apple's market share come in many forms. Some of these attacks are more overt than others. In fact, some -- like this this ad from Amazon -- are blatantly obvious.

It's a smart move by Amazon. No lies. Just truth. The facts speak for themselves. Not only is the tablet lighter, but its display easily trumps the iPad Air. After comparing the new Kindle Fire HDX to the Apple iPad Air display, DisplayMate concluded that the new Kindle display "has now jumped into the impressive category as the best performing Tablet display we have ever tested."

Of course, Amazon isn't the only company with an ad to poke fun at the iPad Air. In November, ads by Microsoft showed some of the benefits of a Surface 2 over Apple's new iPad Air. One ad highlighted Microsoft's hands-free technology, something the iPad Air lacks entirely. Another ad pointed out Apple's failure to support multiple accounts on iOS.

Massive price cuts
Beyond ads, a common strategy for competitors is to undercut Apple in pricing. Amazon, in particular, does this exceptionally well. Unlike Apple, the company doesn't have to please investors with massive gross profit margins. With gross profit margins at 26.5% in the trailing 12 months (considerably less than Apple's) and net margin of basically zero, Amazon investors are primarily focused on the company's ability to grow revenue and steal market share. Even more, Amazon takes a different approach to selling hardware. While Apple attempts to take profit up front, Amazon prefers to sell hardware at or near cost and profit from sales of content after the hardware is sold.

Thanks to Amazon's different approach to selling hardware, the company was able to offer consumers massive price cuts on Cyber Monday, dropping 7-inch 16 GB Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HDX models by $50 each. That brought the Kindle Fire HDX pricing down from $229 to $179 and Kindle Fire pricing down from $169 to $119. Meanwhile, Apple only offered a small discount on Black Friday via gift cards -- a $75 Apple Store gift card to anyone who purchased an iPad Air, which starts at $499.

Will the price cuts work?
The two discounted tablets have taken the top two spots on Amazon's best-sellers list in electronics. Before these two Kindles took the top two spots, Google's Chromecast had held the first spot for some time -- even after the new Kindle models went on sale. There's no question about it, the pricing seems to be helping Amazon keep sales of the two models robust. But it's clear Amazon may not be making much (or any) money on these Kindles up front. So the company will need to continue to drive higher-margin content sales. That said, Amazon is certainly in a better position to do this with more Kindles in the hands of customers.

Source: Screenshot taken from Amazon's website.

For Amazon, undercutting Apple on price and poking fun at the company in its ads may be an effective strategy. As the biggest technology company in the world, Apple will continue to be targeted by competitors.

Fossil has been the watchmaker that keeps on ticking higher mainly thanks to its partnership with upscale powerhouse Michael Kors Holdings .  But Fossil recently reported US weakness in watch sales. Add in a warning for lower holiday traffic, and it's no surprise the stock recently came off 52 week highs. However, the company noted the strength of the Michael Kors license sales on its third quarter earnings.

Fossil reported a 0.5% U.S. same-store sales decline. CEO Kosta Kartsotis said, "In the United States, traffic remains a headwind, and there are concerns about consumer confidence as we go into the holiday season. That can certainly impact our business and our near-term expectations."

Fossil surprised on third quarter earnings per share ($1.58 vs. $1.36 expected) and revenue ($810 million vs. $772.46 million expected) in addition to margin expansion of 160 basis points to 57.4%. Analysts were disappointed by Fossil's guidance calling for lower than expected growth and the worrying US weakness. This followed Macy's comments that watches were weak on its last two earnings calls, as fellow Fool Prabhat Sandheliya pointed out.

Friends or frenemies?
Past the holiday season and US noise, Michael Kors may buoy Fossil in the longer term. The strength in Michael Kors cannot be denied and the strength of Fossil's products for Michael Kors was mentioned several times on the call. Together they are making a big move into men's watches and Kartsotis expects strong sales particularly in Asia for their men's watch collaboration.

However, Fossil is boldly expanding its leather accessories, directly competing against the powerful Michael Kors brand and in Asia, no less. Asia is part and parcel of the bullish thesis on Michael Kors.

However, as fellow Fool Andres Cardenal reports, Michael Kors lags behind Tiffany and Coach in sales per square foot. Possibly to hedge its bets against any future demand decline for Michael Kors brands, Fossil is cozying up to three other designer brands: Karl Lagerfeld, Emporio Armani, and Tory Burch. Fossil launched the Karl Lagerfeld jewelry and watches line early this year, and CEO Kartsotis predicts it will be ready for a "prime time" position  a few years down the road.

Emporio Armani Swiss watches are launching with expanded Asian distribution in 2014, but it's the much anticipated Tory Burch collaboration, debuting in 2014, that could jet-fuel Fossil shares. Tory Burch is privately held, but it is a major competitor to Michael Kors.

Springing forward
Whether it will be new designer brands or Michael Kors that keeps the momentum going forward for Fossil, Kartsotis strongly hinted about another catalyst down the line: smartwatches.

As far as smart watches go, as you know, we've done those for a number of years. It's really quite fascinating to see all the interest in it. And as far as we're concerned, anything that gets people to wear watches on their wrists is good for us. There's a whole generation of people that grew up with cell phones and never worn a watch, so we can inspire them through branding and storytelling or through technology to wear watches. 

Kartsotis expects batteries to get smaller and smartwatches to become less clunky as they explore opportunities in wearable tech. A Michael Kors or Tory Burch brand smartwatch would be a very hot ticket for the status-conscious fashionista.

Are the inner workings in good repair?

FOSL data by YCharts

Fossil's share price appreciation hasn't been as impressive as partner Michael Kors' since Michael Kors debuted in December 2011, but over four years Fossil's total return is 737%. The stock trades at a trailing earnings multiple of 19.81.

Rival Movado Group has its own licensing business with Coach, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, and Tommy Hilfiger, and reported a 27% rise in the sales of these licensed brands on its 2014 third quarter earnings call. Its namesake Movado brand timepieces take No. 1 in market share in the US luxury watch business with price points of $500-$1,500, and globally Coach watches were "trending at 25% plus in sales." 

However, both companies will need to keep an eye on Tiffany. The upscale jeweler announced it will offer its own Tiffany brand of watches soon. With strong performances in Asia for Tiffany and Michael Kors Holdings, and increasing opportunity for Fossil in the region, it was surprising to hear Movado CEO Richard Cote characterize Asia as,"a little bit challenging."

Movado offers a 0.7% yield at a 22 trailing earnings multiple, and EPS has grown an amazing 77.4% in the last year. Its net profit margin of 12% compares favorably to Fossil's 12.40%. Movado reported $160 million in cash with no debt at the end of the third quarter.

Despite having the highest trailing earnings multiple of these companies at 32, Michael Kors has been quite the performer and it has the highest net profit margin of 19.20%. Michael Kors also has no debt.

MOV Total Return Price data by YCharts

A tough call
If you think Asian economies are trending higher consider Michael Kors or Fossil with their bold joint expansion plans. If you think there's an upswing due for the U.S. you could buy Movado, which is already growing U.S. share, especially if you think Coach is undervalued.

Compass Minerals is a sleepy producer of a boring product: rock salt. But it has a strong competitive advantage. It owns the world's largest rock salt mine, which luckily is conveniently located near the major deicing markets of the Great Lakes region. This combination of a great mining resource and ideal location provide the company with a wide, crocodile-filled competitive moat.

A leader in salt
Compass Minerals is a relatively small, Kansas City-based company with $1 billion in annual sales and less than $2.5 billion in market capitalization. It generates profits from two products -- salt and fertilizer. It operates 12 production and packaging facilities, including various salt mines and solar evaporation ponds. But most of its business -- more than three-quarters -- is in salt. And most of its salt comes from the Sifto Mine in Goderich, Ontario, the world's largest rock salt mine.

The Goederich resource advantage
The Sifto Mine in Goderich has an annual capacity of 9 million tons of rock salt -- the majority of which is used for highway deicing. The company owns the land and surface rights for the mine, and it has leases on the mineral rights extending until 2022, with right of renewal until 2043. This mine is a unique natural resource. Its salt deposits are three to five times thicker than other competitive mines, an advantage that allows the company to mine salt at lower costs. And it's a huge deposit. At current production, the company estimates that its reserves will last for 122 years.

The Great Lakes location advantage
If the Sifto mine was located in Hawaii or central Florida, it wouldn't be much use. Rock salt doesn't sell for much -- highway deicing salt garners only about $50 per ton. Thus, it's not economical to ship it very far. The ratio of selling price to weight is very low. A profitable rock salt mine needs to be close to consumers. And Goederich, Ontario, is a great location. It's located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron at the mouth of the Maitland River, with access to a deep-water port. It's also right in the midst of the Great Lakes region, which is full of snowy markets in need of deicing salt -- Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, and the like.

Foolish takeaway
If you're a long-term investor, it's worth paying attention to companies that benefit from long-term structural competitive advantages. Those are the types of companies that can generate economic profits for years or decades despite competition and reward shareholders along the way. Compass Minerals is just such a company. If you can grab shares at the right price, they should "melt up" for years to come. 

Conn's will release its quarterly report on Thursday, and the lesser-known retailer of appliances and consumer electronics has quietly put together an impressive long-term investing record. Yet with Best Buy having bounced back over the past year from big losses in previous years, the future for Conn's investors hasn't stood out as much. Will smaller companies like Conn's and hhgregg keep outpacing Best Buy, or will the larger company end up having the last laugh over its rivals?

Conn's has evolved recently from being a pure retailer of appliances and electronics to becoming a credit-facilitator for those with less than perfect credit. With financing terms that go further than most retailers are willing to go to close sales, Conn's is willing to expose itself to credit risk, a move that has paid off handsomely during the recovery from the financial crisis. But if the economy turns, will Conn's find itself in a world of hurt? Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Conn's over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Stats on Conn's

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can Conn's earnings keep soaring this quarter?
In recent months, analysts have gotten more optimistic about Conn's earnings, raising their October-quarter calls by $0.02 per share and their full-year fiscal 2015 projections by a nickel per share. The stock has lost its upward momentum, though, falling 12% since late August.

Conn's July quarter earnings report was to blame for the stock's declines, with a big bottom-line miss disappointing investors who had gotten used to good news from the retailer. Revenue gains of 30% confirmed that customers were continuing to shop at Conn's, but the company's credit card business weighed on profitability. That in turn called into question Conn's strategy of offering credit to those who might not be able to get it elsewhere, and although the company kept its guidance for the full year steady, investors had hoped for at least a small boost.

The challenge that Conn's has that hhgregg and Best Buy have largely sidestepped is making sure that its customers can actually pay for their purchases. Conn's gets a whopping 75% of its sales from offering customers in-house financing, making purchases possible for those with marginal credit ratings between 550 and 650. When things go well, that gives Conn's an extra revenue stream of finance-charge income that Best Buy and hhgregg don't generally get. But during tougher times, the credit exposure is an added risk that Conn's must face.

The real question is whether Conn's can benefit from improving conditions in the housing market. Investors had hoped that a big boost in home prices and home-buying activity might jump-start sales of furniture and appliances, but higher home prices also mean that buyers are stretching to afford their homes, leaving them less able to deal with payments on high-ticket furnishings as well. Best Buy still relies somewhat on appliances, but it has doubled down on mobile devices and other high-margin electronics even as Conn's and hhgregg have tried to defend themselves against online retailers by emphasizing larger items that aren't as readily shippable.

In the Conn's earnings report, watch closely at the credit-related results from the company's operations. If borrowers get into more trouble, it could spell difficulty not just for Conn's but for retailers in general, as they've counted on a healthy consumer to help boost their overall growth.

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

Dividend investing is popular again. Investors have taken to heart Jeremy Siegel's studies, which show that higher-yielding stocks tend to offer greater returns over time than low- or no-yield stocks.

The top-paying dividend stocks can be very tantalizing. So long as a stock yielding 15% doesn't lose value, you'll make 15% in one year! In more cases than not, however, an astronomical yield is a bad sign for a stock. Since dividend yields and stock prices move in opposite directions, a high yield usually means investors have begun to worry about the business and driven down its stock price.

However, certain types of companies, such as REITs, have to pay out most of their income as dividends, so their yields will be higher than "normal." Dividends are not guaranteed; you need to make sure that a business is generating enough cash to pay its dividend, or your investment could be disastrous.

I ran a screen for the highest-paying regular dividend stocks; the only limitations I've set this time is that the dividend stocks must have a market cap greater than $500 million, must be primarily listed in the U.S. (no American depositary receipts), and must be corporations (no REITs , BDCs , LPs, MLPs, or LLCs).

Here are the 25 highest-yielding stocks the screen produced:

Source: S&P Capital IQ as of Dec. 3, 2013.

Note that these stocks are a good place to start your research, but they're not formal recommendations.

I covered Windstream in October. Nothing has changed about the company's debt situation. As I wrote then, "Investing in Windstream looks like picking up quarters in front of a steamroller; sooner or later you're going to get crushed." I would still pass on the stock.

I covered Ship Finance International last month and concluded:

Warren Buffett has made billions jumping over one-foot hurdles. Ship Finance International is certainly not a one-foot hurdle. There are easier-to-understand businesses out there [for which] you can wrap your head around the margin of safety, or lack thereof. I'd pass.

Vector Group has an interesting assortment of assets that I covered in June, including the fourth-largest cigarette manufacturer, multiple real estate holdings, and a 50% stake in the largest residential real estate broker in New York. The company pays out well over 100% of its free cash flow by issuing debt and convertible debt. I'd pass on the company and look instead at Lorillard or my perennial favorite and longtime holding Phillip Morris International.

Foolish bottom line
Remember, these seemingly irresistible yields could be ticking time bombs, so do your own due diligence. Also make sure you diversify your picks across various sectors. As investors relearn every decade or so, you never want to put all your eggs in one basket -- no matter how tempting the dividends are.

Toronto-Dominion Bank will release its quarterly report on Thursday, and in general, investors have been pleased with the Canadian bank's prospects over the past several months. But in light of surprisingly negative news from rival Bank of Montreal on Tuesday, Toronto-Dominion Bank will have to demonstrate that it's able to avoid the troubles that hurt its rival's results during the most recent quarter.

Toronto-Dominion has a lot in common with Bank of Montreal, as both have large U.S. operations to go with their domestic Canadian businesses. For banking customers in the U.S., Toronto-Dominion's TD Bank subsidiary has done a good job of growing all along the East Coast, expanding from its base of operations in Maine as far south as Florida. Yet Bank of Montreal's recent results could raise questions about whether Toronto-Dominion's southward push is the best move in the current financial environment. Let's take an early look at what's been happening with Toronto-Dominion Bank over the past quarter and what we're likely to see in its report.

Stats on Toronto-Dominion Bank

Source: Yahoo! Finance.

Can Toronto-Dominion earnings keep rising?
Analysts have been generally upbeat in their views on Toronto-Dominion earnings in recent months, raising October-quarter estimates by a penny per share and their full-year fiscal 2014 projections by about 1%. The stock has put up solid gains of more than 6% since late August.

Toronto-Dominion faced challenges in its July quarter results, with profits falling 10%. Losses in its insurance operations and sluggish results from its wholesale banking division weighed on overall results, but TD's retail banking operations in the U.S. and Canada were still strong. Toronto-Dominion also raised its dividend by almost 5%, reflecting the optimistic mood.

Yet Bank of Montreal's latest results raise some questions about Toronto-Dominion as well as the general health of Canada's banking industry. In an effort to cut costs, Bank of Montreal said it had cut almost 1,000 jobs, three-quarters of which came from its Canadian operations, over the past three months. That helped the bank reduce non-interest expenses by nearly 4% for the quarter, but Bank of Montreal's U.S. division didn't perform as well as investors had hoped. Still, BMO's increased dividend and stock repurchase program indicate longer-term optimism about its prospects, and that could get reflected in Toronto-Dominion's results as well.

Even with some concerns about the bank's U.S. business, Toronto-Dominion keeps expanding south of the border. Earlier this week, TD opened a new credit card office in Delaware to support its North American credit card business. By doing so, the company hopes to bolster its credit card presence in the U.S., trying to capitalizing on improving credit conditions as the recovery from the financial crisis continues apace.

Even more interesting is the prospect that Toronto-Dominion might seek to buy Citizens Bank, which is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland . Rumors of a potential $13 billion deal for Citizens surfaced back in October, but thus far, nothing has happened to substantiate those rumors. With RBS facing scrutiny from the U.K. government to reorganize, it might be looking to divest its U.S. operations, and the move could greatly enhance TD's presence in the States. But TD's top executive said earlier this year that a potential acquisition of Citizens wouldn't necessary match well with the bank's usual guidelines for buyouts.

In the Toronto-Dominion earnings report, watch closely to see if its results mirrors those of Bank of Montreal. If TD can outperform its Canadian peer, then it could point to greater gains for the company's stock going into the end of the year.

Click here to add Toronto-Dominion Bank to My Watchlist, which can find all of our Foolish analysis on it and all your other stocks.

Huntington Bancshares has a number of things going for it when it comes to reasons why someone should consider an investment in it -- but there is one key thing to know about this regional outfit that may escape the casual observer.

Principally, Huntington operates in five states, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia. But the competition in those states is stiff, as it not only has to deal with other Ohio-based regional bank Fifth Third Bancorp , but also Pittsburg super-regional bank PNC , and national megabanks Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase .

But to Huntington's credit, it has actually been able to steadily grow its market share despite the strong competition it faces from other banks that have exponentially more resources -- as it even swapped places with Wells Fargo when checking market share dating back to 2010:

Source: FDIC.

In fact, Wells Fargo watched its deposits actually fall by roughly $3.5 billion in those five states. All others watched theirs grow substantially, and while JPMorgan Chase was the clear winner in deposit growth, the 19.4% growth posted by Huntington was only narrowly bested by Fifth Third:

Source: FDIC.

Of course, while deposit growth is a good thing, it's certainly not the only thing when it comes to a bank. And what investors are missing when it comes to Huntington isn't that it's gaining market share, but that it's actually doing so in an incredibly profitable way that will likely yield big results further down the road.

Growth in profitable relationships
In 2010 Huntington set out to grow both the "market share and share of the wallet" of its customers, through "best in class consumer products, customer service with increased marketing and branding, deep community involvement," and other various initiatives. Usually, companies can outline a whole host of things they say they will do and never come through on those, but that cannot be said of Huntington -- and investors need to know the data proves it.

Consider that in 2013, J.D. Power and Associates gave Huntington the highest customer satisfaction rating in the North Central region, which encompasses Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, or every state where Huntington has a significant presence except for Pennsylvania. Its rating of 814 was certainly better than the 788 posted by JPMorgan Chase (the next closest of the five banks mentioned above), and well above the 776 average.

It isn't just that Huntington is delivering great customer service to its customers, but the following charts from a recent presentation to investors show that it is leveraging its customer service and the relationships it is building to bring more customers into more inclusive (and more profitable) relationships with it:

Source: Company Investor Presentations.

Huntington also noted that its households with more than six services from the bank has grown from a little more than 41% of customers in 2011 to 47% of customers in the most recent quarter. This hasn't only happened in its consumer operations, but in its commercial arm, too; relationships there have grown by 28% since the middle of 2010, and commercial clients with more than four services from Huntington has grown from 22% to 37%.

The Foolish bottom line
All of this means that as Huntington continues to build entrenched relationships, it will be able to bolster the profits and income from each customer it's able to generate, which should translate straight to its bottom line, and to investors.

Shares of ARMOUR Residential REIT and American Capital Agency have taken a beating this past year; is this a classic example when investors should sell their shares to book capital losses for tax purposes? In this segment from The Motley Fool's everything-financials show, Where the Money Is, banking analysts David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer play "Making the Grade" and give their thoughts on that question, as well as highlight how New York Community Bancorp embodied a dividend-machine.

The market knows Berkshire Hathaway has some of the best investors in the world calling the shots. Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are, after all, the best duo on Wall Street. Thus, it's rare that Berkshire Hathaway sells at a discount to its book value.

Even so, waiting for a discount to the current price is still a fool's (not Fool's!) game. Here's why you won't ever be able to buy Berkshire Hathaway inexpensively.

Investors actually pay attention
Of all the companies on the public market, Berkshire Hathaway has the most loyal shareholders. Berkshire owners run the gamut from active value investors to passive followers who like having Buffett manage their money. And Berkshire's annual letter to shareholders is among the most widely read documents in the financial world when it surfaces each year.

Thus, investors are tuned in to what Buffett says.

In 1999, Buffett announced in his shareholder letter than he would consider buying back Berkshire Hathaway shares. He even mentioned a price. Here's what Buffett wrote:

Recently, when the A shares fell below $45,000, we considered making repurchases. We decided, however, to delay buying, if indeed we elect to do any, until shareholders have had the chance to review this report. If we do find that repurchases make sense, we will only rarely place bids on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE").

He never got the chance to buy back stock in Berkshire. Much later, at the 2006 annual shareholders meeting, Buffett said the following:

A few years ago, when we were willing to buy back our stock, the fact of writing about it eliminated the opportunity.

He was referring to his comments in the 1999 shareholders letter. Once that letter came out, Berkshire shares never traded as cheap at $45,000 for the A shares ever again, even though the S&P 500 fell for two years after his letter to shareholders.

BRK.A data by YCharts.

What Buffett's said recently
Buffett recently announced a policy of repurchasing shares for Berkshire Hathaway only at a price of 1.2 times book value or lower. Since then, the company has traded for well above 1.2 times book value.

BRK.A Price to Book Value data by YCharts.

History sure likes to repeat itself. On two occasions, Buffett has named his price to buy Berkshire Hathaway shares, and the market responded by pushing Berkshire Hathaway shares higher.

On one hand, this prevents an opportunity to snag Berkshire Hathaway at a discount. However, it also presents an opportunity for conservative investors to snap up Berkshire shares. Because Berkshire Hathaway generates more cash than it can reinvest into new ideas, it's likely that it will make more repurchases in the next 10 years than it ever has.

There is a "floor" in place at 1.2 times book value, a price at which Buffett would start buying back stock. Investors won't easily get market-beating returns from an investment in Berkshire, but at least they'll have the comfort of knowing that Berkshire's cash will likely hold up the stock in a downturn. For this reason alone, Berkshire Hathaway may be the right stock for the investor who wants stock market exposure with less risk. 

American Capital Agency has had a rough 2013, but with shares still trading at a 20% discount to its book value, should investors still stay away? In this segment from The Motley Fool's everything-financials show, Where the Money Is, analysts David Hanson and Matt Koppenheffer play a round of "Would You Rather..." and say why American Capital Agency may be able to brave the storm and give an outlook for shares of Bank of America.

Want a daily podcast dosage of everything Wall Street, Buffett, and more? Check out Where the Money Is! http://t.co/SdAGfmYCf3 #iTunes

— MotleyFoolFinancials (@TMFFinancials) October 5, 2013

Even as the details of the Volcker Rule are hammered out, banks like Goldman Sachs aren't too worried. Despite grabbing headlines, many of the so-called "risky activities" aren't very material to Goldman's overall business. In this segment of The Motley Fool's financials-focused show, Where the Money Is, banking analysts Matt Koppenheffer and David Hanson discuss the impact of the rule and Goldman's business.

Want a daily podcast dosage of everything Wall Street, Buffett, and more? Check out Where the Money Is! http://t.co/SdAGfmYCf3 #iTunes

— MotleyFoolFinancials (@TMFFinancials) October 5, 2013

It's been a tough year for banks, as revenues at the nation's biggest lenders have buckled under the pressure of increased regulatory scrutiny and low interest rates. The performance of BB&T through the first nine months of the year provide a case in point.

BB&T's rollercoaster income statement
If all you took was a cursory glance at BB&T's income statement, then you'd be excused for concluding that the North Carolina-based regional bank has had a decent year.

While its net income for the first nine months of the year fell by $338 million, or 23%, compared to the year-ago period, the entire decline related to an increase in abnormal income tax provisions -- I say "abnormal" because they relate to a long-simmering legal dispute that was only recently resolved in the government's favor.

Take this out, and BB&T's earnings before taxes grew on a year-over-year basis through the third quarter by $257 million, or 12.6%.

But here's the catch. All of the bank's earnings before taxes derived from a decrease in loan loss provisions, as opposed to an improvement in revenue or a decrease in expenses. Excluding this, its earnings before taxes were lower by $16 million relative to 2012.

A pressurized earnings environment
The pressure on BB&T's bottom line is twofold.

In the first case, the sustained low interest rate environment is weighing on its net interest income. Its net interest margin fell by 23 basis points over the 12-month time period, and its net interest income responded in kind, providing $127 million less revenue. And in the second case, BB&T's expense base increased by $41 million.

The one saving grace for the popular regional bank has been its insurance subsidiaries. As the company's most recent quarterly report notes:

Insurance income, which is BB&T's largest source of noninterest income, totaled $1.1 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, an increase of $149 million, or 14.9%, compared to the corresponding period of 2012. This increase primarily reflects the impact of the acquisition of Crump Insurance on April 2, 2012, firming market conditions for insurance premiums, and a $13 million experience-based refund of reinsurance premiums that was received in the second quarter of 2013.

So, what should shareholders take away from this?
My guess is that none of the underlying market forces are bound to change anytime soon.

Just last week, the Federal Reserve said short-term interest rates are bound to "remain near zero for a considerable time," perhaps even after the unemployment rate reaches the previously announced 6.5% threshold. And we know federal regulators aren't going to let up anytime soon on their hard-fought gains on the regulatory front.

As a result, it seems reasonable to conclude that banks like BB&T will spend yet another year looking to loan loss provisions to fuel their bottom lines. How much longer can this go on? That remains to be seen, but anybody who's worried should follow that figure closely.

Income investors hate low interest rates, but surprisingly, Bank of America , American Capital Agency , and Uncle Sam have loved them.

Where we've been...
Since the collapse of the housing market near the end of 2007, interest rates have been at unprecedented lows relative to their historical averages. The Federal Funds rate, which is the interest rate set by the Federal Reserve against which almost all other rates are benchmarked, currently stands right at 0.09%. This is the 267th week in a row (beginning in October 2008) it has been below 1%, and the 260th week in a row it has been below 0.5%:

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve.

To put that into perspective, from January 1955 to September 2008, only 32 of the 2,806 weeks saw a Federal Funds Rate below 1%, and only twice was it below 0.5%. Thanks to both conventional and unconventional monetary policy from the Federal Reserve and other central banks, the United States and essentially all other advanced economies have seen interest rates at historic lows.

The mortgage REITs
The shares of mortgage REITs have taken a hit lately, especially American Capital Agency and Annaly Capital Management , but that was because they benefited dramatically from the low interest rate environment. These investments make their money by borrowing short-term debt and using it to buy longer-term (and higher-yielding) securities, and as a result of the low borrowing rates, their stocks had incredible runs from 2009 to the beginning of this year:

However, as you can see, as rates have risen in recent months, they have been crushed, and the performance of their stocks has suffered as long-term yield caught up to the companies and crimped margins. These mortgage REITs' managers and investors hope rates return to a steep curve.

The big banks
As seen with the mortgage REITs, low interest rates have advantages and disadvantages, and the same goes for the biggest banks. Banks like Wells Fargo , Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase all make a significant amount of their income from what is known as net interest income, which is the difference between what a bank earns from loans versus what it pays out on deposits and other liabilities.

Interestingly, although net interest margin (the rate of net interest income) has been on the decline since it peaked in 2010 following the financial crisis (since they were collecting money on long-term loans with higher rates versus paying out low rates on short-term liabilities), on a relative basis, while things are certainly below historical norms, it is not nearly as dramatic as one would expect:

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve.

Banks are hurt by this lack of income, but recently, the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the consulting firm, published a report that examined the impact of the low interest rates and found that banks in the U.S. actually had a total benefit of $150 billion between 2007 and 2012 as a result of low interest rates. In fact, the same study found that the impact of low interest rates in the eurozone actually hurt banks there by reducing net interest income by $230 billion, which led to "divergence in the competitive positions of US and European banks."

The biggest benefactor of the low interest rate environment was not the banks, as non-financial corporations were able to benefit from the cost of their debt falling, resulting in a benefit of $310 billion in the U.S. alone. Yet that figure of $310 billion couldn't surpass the $900 billion difference in net interest income posted by the United States government, the biggest winner from the low interest rates.

The federal government
Consider the rate of 1-year U.S. Treasury bonds over the past 50 years as shown in the chart below:

Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve.

In the 2,445 weeks before November 21, 2008, the yield on a bond was below 1% only twice, during a two-week stretch in June of 2003. Yet since then, rates have been below 1% for 262 consecutive weeks, and considering the yield currently sits at 0.13%, that streak is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. The previously mentioned study found that the effective rate the U.S. paid out on its total debt fell from an average of 4.8% in 2007 to 2.4% in 2012.

Interest rates paid on debt are the result of supply and demand, and as a result of the U.S. continuing to be one of the safest sources for investors seeking to keep their money secure, even despite the turmoil in Washington, countless dollars have flooded into the U.S. that helped finance the debt at ultra-low rates. In addition, although the U.S. government has been the biggest beneficiary in terms of raw dollars, this is also in large part because of the massive debt it holds on its balance sheet.

The financial crisis had a disastrous impact on the global financial landscape, and only now are we beginning to truly recover, but one unintended benefit of low interest rates was the impact to the federal government's bottom line.