It's a mixed holiday season on the stock market, with consumers spending more than they did a year ago but retailers struggling to keep those sales from moving online. The good news is that there are lots of great deals to be had, and stronger spending will be great for the economy.

The "Santa Claus rally" has hit the Dow Jones Industrial Average , but after a great 2013 the impact wasn't huge. The Dow is up 1.3% in December, which adds to a rise that resulted in a 27.5% total return for the index this year. Besides the whole market, here are four companies winning this holiday season.

Nike
Retail sales are up and down this year, but strong brands such as Nike are going to make sales whether they're online or in-store. Last weekend's launch of Jordan 11 Retro shows just the cachet Nike's products still have.

Sales were up 8% last quarter, and with the Olympics and World Cup coming up in 2014, Nike's products will be popular gifts for the holidays and these major sporting events.

Apple
This hasn't been the banner year we've come to expect from Apple , but iPods, iPhones, and iPads are still incredibly popular items for under the Christmas tree. The calendar fourth quarter is typically Apple's best quarter, and if recent trends are any indication, we should see another record this quarter.

iPhone unit sales were up 20% last quarter to 31.2 million, and the addition of the lower-cost iPhone 5c should be a holiday hit.

UPS and FedEx
If you're like me, you did a lot of shopping online this year. No matter where you shopped, that's good news for the UPS and FedEx . Since coming out of the recession, both companies have seen a steady increase in revenue and with more shopping moving online that will continue.

UPS Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Last-minute shoppers love the availability of online shipping during the holidays, and these will be two winners no matter who made the sale.

Altera's performance in 2013 has left a lot to be desired. Shares are down almost 9% this year. When compared to peers such as Xilinx and Lattice Semiconductor, it looks as if Altera could be one of the worst investments you can make in this particular area of the semiconductor industry.

All three companies make programmable chips that can be bought by customers off the shelf and then programmed according to their needs. But Xilinx and Lattice seem to be the ones that are making all the right moves. Lattice is up 35% this year while Xilinx has gained a respectable 25%, but Altera has languished, and a turnaround could be some time away.

Not a good picture
Last month, Goldman Sachs downgraded Altera from "conviction buy" to "buy," as it believes that the company could face some short-term weakness. In addition, Altera's third-quarter report was not very encouraging. Revenue was down 10% from the year-ago period, and earnings fell 24%. The company guided for revenue of around $441 million at the mid-point, which was way behind the $473.66 million expectation.  

It looks like it's all doom and gloom for Altera right now. However, with the stock trading pretty close to its 52-week low and being the cheapest among the three at 22 times earnings, patient investors might be interested in Altera. The long-term prospects don't look that bad, and considering that Altera sports a dividend yielding 1.90%, it might turn out to be a good buy over the long run.

Better prospects ahead
Altera guided below consensus estimates in the previous quarter, as its telecom and wireless business didn't perform up to the mark. The company said that it saw fewer orders from this segment due to lack of a strong catalyst in the short run. This is quite surprising -- investors would expect Altera to benefit strongly from China Mobile's TD-LTE roll out.

Huawei and ZTE were the biggest beneficiaries when China Mobile doled out initial contracts worth $3.2 billion for its TD-LTE network buildout earlier this year. These two are key Altera customers, and as such, investors were expecting Altera to benefit. However, it might take some time before Altera sees revenue from the China Mobile deployment. 

According to management, its high-end products are taking more time to go into production due to a traditionally longer design qualification cycle that's seen in the telecom sector. However, the long-term investor shouldn't feel discouraged -- there's a huge opportunity in China, even though it might take a bit longer to materialize.

China Mobile is expected to build 207,000 base stations across 31 provinces as it rolls out TD-LTE. This month, the company launched TD-LTE in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chongqing, which means that it still has a lot of ground to cover going forward. According to Infonetics, the LTE market in China is expected to grow 127% in 2013, and China Mobile is leading the charge. This would give rise to competition as other telcos would need to step up their game, leading to higher telco spending in the future.

Winning market share
There's a possibility that Altera might be winning market share from Xilinx.  Xilinx had seen weakness in its telecom business last quarter as a result of a transition at one of its customers. Analysts suggest that Xilinx is losing this spot to Altera. Also, Altera management believes that there might be more transitions that might benefit the company going forward. 

It looks like Altera's strong product-development pipeline has helped it and advantage over Xilinx. While Xilinx is focusing on the development of 20-nanometer chips, Altera has gone one step up and is in the process of developing chips on Intel's 14-nanometer platform. It expects this platform to help it capture close to 50% of the industry's revenue in the next five years.  

In addition, Altera is looking to make life difficult for Xilinx through its 20-nanometer platform, for which it has already landed design wins in line with its current product lineup. 

The bottom line
Altera has been a laggard this year, but patient investors could be in for better times in the long run, as Altera has some promising opportunities ahead of it. The stock is pretty cheap right now when stacked up against its peers and it also pays a dividend, making it an ideal pick for value-seeking long-term investors.

After two consecutive quarters of disappointing sales and subscription totals, technology database giant Oracle provided investors with a welcome reprieve. The company's most recent quarter held a number of positive items that could represent a real and sustainable turnaround. Most of 2013 was a disappointment for Oracle, but a few encouraging trends may make 2014 a much better year.

Oracle's well-publicized shift into cloud-based services represents the key takeaway for investors after the company's third-quarter results. And, progress on this initiative should be the primary consideration going forward.

Oracle's strategy in the cloud
You must be concerned with the company's underlying results this year, which were sluggish to say the least. Sales of software and Internet-based subscriptions have disappointed, which sent up a big red flag that Oracle may miss out on the mammoth growth potential of cloud-based services.

Prior to its most recent quarterly results, Oracle missed forecasts on both software sales and subscriptions for two consecutive quarters. This was not received well, since Oracle has shifted a great deal of its strategic focus to cloud computing solutions. Thankfully, many of these trends reversed course in its fiscal second quarter.

With regard to its software business, Oracle's second-quarter bookings for cloud services rose 35%, and cloud-related revenue increased 20%. This is incredibly important to Oracle's future, because hardware is undergoing significant deterioration due to the popularity of the cloud. Oracle's total hardware sales fell 3% in the quarter and are down dramatically over the past two years.

Oracle's push into the cloud is further demonstrated by its acquisition of Responsys, , a provider of cloud-based marketing software, for $1.5 billion. The deal enhances Oracle's scale at delivering marketing interactions across platforms. The acquisition is expected to fit very well with Oracle's existing customer-oriented cloud segment. This should help accelerate Oracle's progress in its key strategic priorities.

The shift away from hardware servers has afflicted other large-cap technology giants such as IBM , which is in a transition period of its own. Thankfully for investors, IBM is seeing the writing on the wall when it comes to hardware, and is transitioning itself into much more of an IT consulting business.

IBM's change in strategic direction, like Oracle's, will take time and patience. IBM reported 4% lower revenue in its fiscal third quarter, with particular weakness in its emerging-market segment. In fact, China was responsible for half the company's revenue decline. In all, IBM missed consensus estimates on revenue by nearly $1 billion, and this quarter's results marked the sixth consecutive quarter of falling sales.

In the meantime, IBM is hoping its massive share repurchases, as well as strict cost controls, will keep profits afloat. These efforts allowed IBM to post a 10.5% increase in quarterly earnings per share, and compelled management to reiterate its full-year fiscal 2013 outlook for at least $16.25 in EPS.

Why Oracle's 2014 depends on the cloud
You were probably relieved that Oracle's software results stabilized.  Because two disappointing quarters might have raised concerns that the company's strategic initiatives weren't working. Thankfully, Oracle is reporting progress in its major transition. While the shift to the cloud has affected hardware providers broadly, Oracle's acquisition of Responsys should enhance and accelerate its own progress.

For now, it seems Oracle is back on track. At the same time, developments in technology move very quickly. This means that you need to watch its progress, to make sure the company doesn't veer off the tracks. Still, it appears Oracle is set up for a strong 2014.

Demand for mined products simply didn't match supplies or capacity in 2013. So many producers of coal, copper, and gold just couldn't find their footing. Some of the biggest names in the business like Goldcorp , Peabody Energy , and Southern Copper Corp.  all let investors down mightily. Are there any prospects for a rebound in 2014? Tune in below to find out.

Chinese demand for natural resources was a key driver of growth in the mining industry...until the country's growth started to moderate. China is still clamoring for resources and growing relatively strongly, but slower growth coupled with a ramp up in supply led to steep price drops in many commodity markets. And that should serve as a warning sign for two currently attractive areas.

Holy coal demand Batman!
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal consumption in Asia increased 400% between 1980 and 2010. China was responsible for the bulk of that growth, with the country now accounting for around 50% of world coal consumption.

Source: EIA

It's no wonder coal was a hot commodity. However, that demand and relatively high prices, particularly for metallurgical coal, led miners to aggressively open new coal mines -- even marginally profitable ones. So, when Chinese growth started to moderate, supply quickly outpaced demand.

The result was a precipitous fall in coal prices. For example, Peabody Energy watched the realized price of its Australian coal fall from about $102 a ton to slightly less than $78 a ton year over year in the third quarter. That's more than a 20% decline.

More than just coal
This is a big issue for other miners, too, including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto . Like globally diversified Peabody, both of these giant miners have notable Australian operations that sell to China. The problem they face, however, is that in addition to coal, they also sell other resources. And the same supply/demand imbalance that's hurting coal has taken a toll elsewhere.

BHP, for example, saw low single-digit revenue increases in its oil and copper businesses more than offset by double-digit declines in iron ore and coal during fiscal 2013, ended June. The top-line shortfalls at these divisions showed up despite the fact that BHP actually sold more tons of iron ore and coal. The culprit was clearly weak pricing.

What now?
Mining-equipment maker Joy Global notes continued strong demand for its equipment within the copper industry. That's good news for Joy, which has seen sales fall off throughout most of the other industries it serves. But increased spending in the copper industry could simply be setting up a supply/demand imbalance similar to what's taking place in iron ore and coal.

About half of BHP and Rio's businesses are tied to iron ore and coal. However, neither would like to see copper, which makes up about 10% of Rio Tinto's business and 18% of BHP's, add to the pain. Imagine, however, how Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold would feel, as one of the world's largest copper miners.

That helps explain why Freeport recently paid $19 billion to diversify into the oil and gas exploration space; a move similar to one made by BHP a few years earlier. However, copper isn't the only "hot" commodity to keep an eye on.

Timberland companies Weyerhaeuser and Rayonier both noted Chinese demand for lumber as a key performance driver in their third-quarter conference calls. If Chinese demand for wood slows down, both would feel a pinch even if domestic lumber demand brightens.

Yin and yang
Chinese demand is a mixed blessing. As an investor, you need to watch what China is doing because any changes could have an outsized impact on your natural-resource holdings. Copper and timber are two areas to monitor right now.

That said, China is still one of the fastest growing countries in the world -- a silver lining for even out-of-favor industries like iron ore and coal. When supply and demand balance out, prices will again start to rise and companies like Peabody, BHP, and Rio will benefit. 

Electronics manufacturing services provider Jabil Circuit is in a very precarious position. The stock was outperforming the market in mid-September but seems to have lost its wheels. The failure of BlackBerry's latest platform, along with Cisco's weak guidance, and Apple producing more units of the iPhone 5s than the iPhone 5c have collectively hurt Jabil.

Multiple headwinds
Shares took a massive hit earlier this month after Jabil's second-quarter guidance fell way behind expectations. Jabil cited a "shift in demand" at one of its major customers in the diversified manufacturing services or DMS segment. This segment had grown rapidly since Jabil started manufacturing the aluminum casing for the iPhone 5 last year.

However, things appear a bit different this year. Jabil acquired Nypro, a custom plastics manufacturer, in anticipation of more business from Apple. Apple did provide more business to Jabil with the plastic-built iPhone 5c. According to The Wall Street Journal, Jabil manufactures plastic cases for the iPhone 5c and "metal exteriors" for the iPhone 5s. But, consumers have preferred the flagship device and Apple was reportedly cutting orders for the 5c just a month after its launch. 

Jabil's disengagementwith BlackBerry is another reason why it's seeing tough times. The BlackBerry 10 device has failed to generate excitement, which shows in its catastrophic third-quarter earnings call. Revenue fell 56% from last year and its net loss came in at a massive $4.4 billion, or $8.37 per share. BlackBerry is now changing direction and has entered into a five-year long manufacturing agreement with Foxconn to develop smartphones for Indonesia and other emerging markets. 

Apple and BlackBerry accounted for 31% of Jabil's revenue in fiscal 2013, and as such, the above developments have hurt the company badly.This is why its diversified manufacturing services business, and its high-velocity solutions business are expected to drop 25% in the current quarter.The DMS business accounts for about half of Jabil's revenue so it is no surprise that the company issued a woeful outlook.

More bad stuff
Cisco is another key customer of Jabil, although it accounts for less than 10% of its revenue.Cisco dropped a bomb in November when it said that its revenue for the current quarter is expected to decline 8% to 10%. Cisco is finding it difficult to grow its business in emerging markets after recent surveillance allegations, according to Reuters. In addition, Cisco cited uncertainty in its domestic market. 

Hence, it looks like Jabil is under siege from a bunch of different sides. As such, its guidance for the current quarter turned out to be very weak. Jabil expects revenue in the range of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion and earnings of $0.05 to $0.15 per diluted share. In comparison, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.54 per share on $4.35 billion in sales. Given such a woeful outlook, it wasn't surprising that Jabil shares fell more than 20% in a single day. 

Jabil decided to divest its aftermarket services business to iQor Holdings for $725 million. This business generated $1.1 billion in revenue last fiscal year, but Jabil management is of the opinion that the divestment will help it diversify its core manufacturing business through the addition of more engineering intensive capabilities. More importantly, this move should help Jabil improve its cash position, which is weak when compared to the amount of debt it has on its books. 

Foolish bottom line
Jabil is in a sticky position right now. Even though the company has big-name customers, it isn't able to make the most out of them, and its outlook suggests that there could be more downside ahead. So, even though the stock trades at under 9 times earnings, it might not be a good idea to buy unless you see concrete signs of a turnaround.

When shares of Broadcom fell, they fell hard. The company's guidance fell flat and it was revealed on the call that meaningful LTE revenues from its very expensive cellular baseband effort wouldn't be ready until the second half of 2014. The shares were pummeled that day, cratering from about $34 per share to $27 - a whopping 21% -- in just a day. After further pain (the shares printed $23.25 before the worst was over), the shares began to rebound - and for good reason.

Broadcom is in a really good position
Broadcom is in a pretty good position within the semiconductor industry. It has good exposure to network infrastructure/communications that benefits nicely from the insatiable demand for cellular data. It has a great broadband business that isn't extremely high growth, but it is growing in low- to mid-single digits and is extremely profitable. Finally, Broadcom's exposure to the explosion in mobile devices by way of its connectivity combo chips is nothing to sneeze at - it's healthy, growing, and profitable.

Yes, the market freaked out when the cellular efforts - which are viewed as both strategic (to defend connectivity market share) as well as growth-oriented (since Broadcom's exposure to cellular baseband is not particularly high) - weren't progressing as expected. Shortly thereafter, Broadcom announced that it would be buying Renesas Mobile in order to accelerate its LTE efforts.

So far, so good - but the proof is in the pudding
At Broadcom's analyst day, management laid out a very compelling plan to capture share in the high end part of the handset market with its LTE-Advanced slim modem as well as at the low end with its integrated platform solutions. Of course, management has never been short on promises in cellular - it's the execution and delivery that have proven to be the issue. If the company actually follows through on the plan that was laid out, then the shares could go much higher throughout the year.

However, Qualcomm - the current market leader in all chips mobile - isn't going to lose sockets in cellular quietly (just as Broadcom has done a very good job of defending connectivity share). Its product lineup in all things cellular is absolutely superb, spanning the highest of the high end to the lowest of the low end. While Broadcom announced a couple of wins (including a Samsung phone) for its next generation LTE + apps processor solution, it's going to need to do a lot more than that to really win over the hearts of Wall Street.

Can Broadcom really succeed?
That's the multi-billion dollar question - can Broadcom ultimately succeed in the mobile chip space or will it eventually need to bow out as TI did a while back? There's no way to know with a high degree of certainty. The investments required here are massive and will only get more difficult over time - and only the few that can afford it (defined as seeing adequate return on invested capital). Qualcomm is, unless something goes horribly wrong, very likely to survive long term. Intel , another major competitor here, is also likely to be here as its long-term future depends on it (and it has a number of special advantages-such as a manufacturing advantage and R&D leverage- that none of the other players quite possess).

But Broadcom is in a unique position. It could jettison its cellular efforts and, in fact, sell its entire mobile and wireless division and still have two very profitable, very viable businesses. The potential growth profile wouldn't look nearly as attractive and the company would be much smaller, but it would survive, thrive, and possibly command a richer multiple.

That being said, management has made it clear that this upcoming product cycle will give a pretty strong indication of whether the company will continue to play the cellular game. If things go well and the revenue base justifies continued investment, then Broadcom will be a very solid No. 2 or No. 3 (depending on how successful Intel is) in this space. If not, then that money can (and very likely will) be used more wisely elsewhere.

Foolish bottom line
Yes, competing with Qualcomm and Intel will be tough, and no, there's no guarantee that Broadcom's cellular efforts will succeed, but the odds look good that the company's efforts will be viable long term. The upcoming product cycle will give the initial sign and then from there, investors will just have to see how it goes. In either case, the company is cheap at less than 10x trailing twelve month free cash flow and after badly underperforming in 2013, the stock could have a much brighter 2014. 

Subscribers to T-Mobile's GoSmart prepaid wireless service got an early Christmas present this week. Every subscriber will get unlimited access to Facebook regardless of their data plan (or lack thereof). Facebook has made similar deals with carriers around the world, but this is the first in the U.S.

GoSmart has a tiny subscriber base -- "hundreds of thousands of subscribers" according to T-Mobile's VP of Partner Brands -- so the impact won't be huge for either company. Yet, this is a simple way for T-Mobile and Facebook to test the waters in the U.S. and see if such a deal can be as successful as those made abroad.

Facebook wants to connect everyone
In Facebook's second-quarter conference call, Mark Zuckerberg outlined three main goals for the company going forward. The first was to connect everyone. Google shares this goal with Facebook, and the advertising rivals might end up helping each other.

With a growing number of users accessing Facebook through mobile devices, the company wants to ensure that anyone can access its services. In February, Facebook announced partnerships with 18 carriers in 14 different countries to allow subscribers free or discounted access to Facebook.

The best part about these deals for Facebook is that it isn't footing the bill for data usage.It has helped out with marketing and promotion, but considering its access to one of the largest advertising platforms is all but free, that isn't too much of a burden for the company.

Although the terms of the arrangement with GoSmart were not disclosed, it's likely Facebook has come to similar terms. Considering Facebook's saturation level in the U.S. and the average price per ad in the country, T-Mobile is getting just as good of a deal as Facebook.

Google, on the other hand, is unlikely to make similar deals with carriers. The company's service, by its very nature, sends people to other parts of the web. Instead, Google has taken to setting up free WiFi networks all over the world, including plans for a potential network of balloons or blimps over Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, which could connect an additional 1 billion people.

Google can benefit from Facebook's deals with carriers, however, as more people sign up for data plans once they get a taste of the mobile web. This is what T-Mobile and GoSmart are banking on.

GoSmart can increase ARPU
T-Mobile launched GoSmart in February, and the prepaid carrier has since attracted a small niche of subscribers paying $25 to $45 a month for wireless service. More specifically, users can pay $30 for unlimited talk and text, $5 more to add unlimited 2G data, or pay $45 for unlimited talk, text, and 3G data.

The deal with Facebook will allow GoSmart subscribers access to Facebook services using the 2G network. Anything that takes users outside of the Facebook network requires a data plan. T-Mobile is betting that enough users will find value in paying another $5 each month to get the full experience of shared content on Facebook.

Moreover, anyone who's tried to play videos or load pictures using 2G speeds knows that it requires a certain amount of patience. Some subscribers may be compelled to upgrade to 3G after getting to experience the benefits of mobile web access.

Although T-Mobile doesn't release independent financial data for all of its MVNOs like GoSmart, its average revenue per prepaid subscriber fell $0.26 last quarter to $35.71.That includes those that it acquired through the purchase of MetroPCS, which reported ARPU of $40.96 with 9 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter.Clearly, other parts of T-Mobile's prepaid subscriber base are paying much less, as MetroPCS accounts for 60% of T-Mobile's prepaid subscribers.

Facebook for everyone
As I mentioned previously, GoSmart is a tiny part of T-Mobile, so no one should expect a meaningful upswing in ARPU for prepaid subscribers at T-Mobile. If the company sees success with GoSmart, however, it could extend the program to its other prepaid brands.

At the very least, T-Mobile should be able to increase its subscribers and reduce churn on the MVNO due to its differentiation and advertising help from Facebook.

When Apple announced its deal with China Mobile, plenty of semiconductor stocks levered to Apple's success went ahead and popped while others remained mostly flat to even slightly down. An example of a stock that popped nicely was Cirrus Logic is a mixed signal semiconductor company that - thanks to its massive exposure to Apple - lives and dies by Apple's success and failure. On the other hand, Qualcomm - which is levered to the smartphone market at large - actually finished down for the session.was one of those that popped a couple of percent when, really, it's tough to see how this is anything but a clear negative.

The flaws with the naive interpretation
The simplest and perhaps the most naïve interpretation here is that since ARM IP is found inside of Apple's iPhone, ARM should go up. Now, this is pretty ludicrous since the vast majority of smartphones, and certainly all high-end handsets, sport processors that bear royalties to ARM. In fact, while some may argue that since Apple's A7 is ARMv8 (i.e. 64-bit) compatible that sales of an iPhone 5s would be more beneficial to ARM from a royalty rate perspective than, say, a 32-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or a Samsung Exynos 5 Octa, there are some pretty serious flaws here.

First of all, the Apple A7 - 64-bits and all - sports only two ARMv8 processor cores, while chips from many other vendors, including Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek often sport up to 8 cores (which means even more ARM content per chip) and even ARM graphics IP. Apple's A7 chip also uses graphics IP from Imagination Technologies, so it's unlikely that ARM will win that graphics socket in any subsequent iPhones.

So, aside from the A7 being 64-bit, a mix shift at the high end toward iPhones is probably a negative since each Apple phone contains much less ARM IP - at least on the big-ticket applications processor side of things - than many competing Android devices. Does this really justify a 2% move in shares of this already extremely richly valued stock?

This just goes to show that momentum is everything
For a story stock like ARM, anything that remotely resembles good news is going to send the shares soaring. While many will point to the nosebleed valuation as a reason to sell/short, this is just as naive as bulls buying because Apple is selling more phones. The stock will keep going up until either the macro environment becomes less favorable or until the story breaks. The only thing that could really do it at this point is visibly strong competition from Intel (similar to the Galaxy Tab 3 win about six months ago only on a larger scale), but that will still probably be several months off on the Android side of things.

Foolish bottom line
Is ARM a buy here? Well, it really depends. If the company can keep beating estimates, Intel fails to gain meaningful traction in mobile, and ARM's server push works out, then the shares may even be a buy here. However, there's a lot that could go wrong here to sour sentiment, particularly with the shares up over 1000% over the last 5 years. In a market in which valuation mattered, ARM would probably not be trading anywhere close to where it is today at over 100 times trailing twelve month earnings, but in a market where sentiment and the "story" is what matters, ARM could very well sustain these valuations for years. 

Millions of Americans will receive gift cards this season, with the average spending on gift cards expected to reach $163 per person. But what can you do if you get a gift card you'll never use? Fortunately, there are ways to turn unwanted gift cards into cash.

In the following video, Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool's director of investment planning, looks at three ways to get cash for gift cards. Dan goes through all three, including using auction sites like eBay , gift-card exchange services like Cardpool, or finding friends and family members in similar situations to do a swap. Dan notes that higher-demand cards from Apple and other popular retailers can get more than a 90% payback, while a quick check at Cardpool found that Gap gift cards yielded 82%. The conclusion: Gift cards can end up being less valuable than cash, but you don't have to get stuck with a card you don't want. 

Relying on Apple , or any one source for a good portion of revenue, is a double-edged sword. It is no doubt an advantage to have a big-volume smartphone player on your side, but when things start going south, things can turn quick.

Cirrus bites the dust
Take component supplier Cirrus Logic for example. Cirrus derived 82% of its revenue from Apple last fiscal year, but news that it lost the audio amplifier slot in the iPad Air to Maxim Integrated Products led to a huge crash in the share price. Cirrus used to change hands for around $45 a share in September last year, but is now languishing at around $20 a share.

Cirrus' growth has taken a big hit and its earnings are expected to drop at a rate of 32% a year for the next five years. The company is now trying to look for diversification opportunities, but there is no immediate relief in sight.

But, the loss of the iPad Air amplifier slot is expected to hurt just 5% of Cirrus' annual sales. Still, the company's earnings are expected to drop at a massive rate according to Yahoo! Finance analysts. This clearly points to the fact that if any supplier is unable to grow its content inside Apple's devices, it is in for troubled times.

Even though iDevices are expected to sell in huge numbers this quarter, Cirrus' revenue is expected to decline on a year-over-year basis. This means that it is highly probable that Apple is negotiating lower prices for Cirrus' solutions, creating pressure on both top and bottom lines for the component supplier.

Same goes for OmniVision
Cirrus Logic is not an isolated case. Image sensor manufacturer OmniVision Technologies is yet another example of how a loss of business from Apple can seriously hurt a suppliers share price.

In mid-2011, OmniVision traded for around $36 a share, but now it trades at around $17. OmniVision lost a portion of its business to Sony at the time when the iPhone 4s was launched and unfortunately, the trend has continued. Sony once again supplied the camera sensor for the iPhone 5s, although OmniVision is the second company supplying some of the sensors.  

Also, it won't be surprising if Sony becomes the sole supplier to Apple going forward as the iPhone 5s camera has been praised for its "SLR-like" quality. Also, Sony has been strengthening its position in image sensors. According to Bloomberg, Sony has captured a third of the $7.6 billion image sensors market and supplies to both Samsung and Apple. 

Camera sensors are now commoditized components which is why bigger players, such as Sony, enjoy economies of scale. Sony is reportedly planning to buy a factory from Renesas Electronics in order to increase production of its imaging sensors, according to Reuters. The global CMOS sensor market is expected to grow 60% in the next five years, according to Techno Systems Research, and Sony is looking to make the most of it. 

As such, OmniVision is now seeing a "slowing smartphone market and intensifying competition." Hence, even though OmniVision says that it is still exploring emerging markets such as China and India, it remains cautiously optimistic about its future.

Management believes that the roll out of LTE in China and emergence of low-cost 3G smartphones in developing countries will prove to be a boost for its business. However, low-cost devices will ideally generate lower revenue than premium devices, leading to pressure on margins.

So it shouldn't have surprised many when OmniVision issued a disastrous outlook for the ongoing quarter. It expects earnings between $0.28 and $0.44 per share on revenue of $310 million to $340 million in the third quarter. These are way behind the respective analyst estimates of $0.43 per share in earnings on $402 million in revenue.

If OmniVision manages to hit the mid-point of its revenue guidance, it would result in a drop of 23% from the year-ago period. Now, in a quarter where Apple is expected to sell 54 million iPhones and 24.8 million iPads according to Canaccord Genuity, up 13% and 8% from last year, a steep drop in revenue is a big red flag for OmniVision investors. 

Time to sell
As such, it would be prudent for you to hit the sell button and gain the profit that OmniVision has given you in the past year or so. The imaging sensor market is heavily commoditized and bigger players such as Sony and Samsung enjoy scale advantage.

OmniVision derives around 28% of its revenue from LG Innotek and Foxconn combined, both of which are associated with Apple. The company is probably losing business to Sony, which is looking to boost production, and it could continue losing content going forward.

Hence, even at a cheap trailing P/E of 11.6, OmniVision doesn't look like a good investment and now might be a good time to sell. It is following a similar pattern as that of Cirrus Logic, which trades at a cheap 9 times earnings but looks more like a value trap than a value play. You should look to sell OmniVision and Cirrus Logic as they could continue to underperform in 2014.

eBay recently announced the completion of its acquisition of Braintree, a global online and mobile payment platform. Braintree is known for facilitating payments for popular companies Airbnb and Uber. eBay has indicated that Braintree will operate as a separate service within PayPal. The company has not clearly identified how it intends to incorporate Braintree's technology into its current PayPal mobile application, but has indicated that it will only do so in a manner that benefits PayPal customers.

eBay also acquired Braintree's popular Venmo mobile payment application, but has indicated that Venmo will remain a separate product. It is unclear if PayPal will adopt some of the social characteristics that are popular in the Venmo application. What sets Venmo apart from the competition is the social engagement features that allow a user's friends to like or comment on payments and annotations.

PayPal has indicated that Braintree will help the company transform the mobile payment space. It is likely that PayPal is looking at ways to add social media characteristics to its mobile platform. The collaborative effort will help launch Braintree onto a global scale with PayPal's resources and market reach. It will be exciting to see how the acquisition of Braintree transforms PayPal's mobile application.

eBay as an investment
eBay is showing some amazing growth: The company recently reported revenue of $3.9 billion in the third quarter of 2013, which represents a 14% increase compared to the same quarter in 2012. eBay also reported $0.64 earnings per share for the third quarter of 2013.

PayPal is showing some exemplary growth: PayPal reported a 19% increase in revenue to $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2013. The company is also showing large gains in new registered users, and reported 5 million additional users in the third quarter of 2013 for a total of 137 million registered users.

Investors should carefully watch how eBay integrates Braintree's mobile technology into PayPal's existing application. The question is whether or not PayPal will attempt to include social media options to make the mobile platform more popular with users. Investors also need to monitor whether new implementations help increase the user base and expand PayPal's revenue.

Google Wallet is a direct competitor
Google recently retired its Checkout application and moved payment processing to the Wallet product. Google Wallet is an online payment processing application that is also available on both Apple and Android mobile devices. The Google payment application directly competes with PayPal in the online and mobile payment space. Google Wallet allows users to purchase digital goods through Google-hosted marketplaces, plus send money to family and friends.

Google continues to show incredible growth: The company reported revenue of $14.89 billion in the third quarter of 2013, which is a 12% increase in revenue compared to the third quarter of 2012. Google continues to show strong profits and reported $10.74 earnings per share in the third quarter of 2013.

Investors should be excited about Google's continued accomplishments in growing revenue and returning profits. The company is actively accomplishing CEO Larry Page's vision of creating a "beautiful, simple, and intuitive experience regardless of your device." Investors should carefully watch how Google reacts to any changes in PayPal's mobile application. It is important to determine whether or not Google will be a leader or follower in the mobile payment space.

Amazon acquires mobile start-up GoPago
Amazon recently acquired GoPago, a start-up that specializes in mobile payments. According to techcrunch.com, Amazon bought GoPago's technology and development team. At this point, it is unclear how Amazon plans to integrate GoPago's technology into its existing infrastructure. The takeaway from this recent acquisition is that Amazon plans to become a player in the mobile payment space.

Amazon has been showing some stunning growth: The company reported sales of $17.09 billion in the third quarter of 2013, a 24% increase compared to $13.81 billion reported in the third quarter of 2012. On the downside, Amazon reported a net loss of $41 million in the third quarter of 2013, which translates to a loss of $0.09 per share.

Investors should not fret over Amazon's lack of profits at this point. Amazon continues to reinvestment in growing technologies. The company is becoming a major player in several markets including tablets, cloud computing, and streaming video services. These are all areas of future growth for Amazon.

The recent acquisition of GoPago is a strong indicator that Amazon will enter the mobile payment space, which could be another amazing growth opportunity for the company. Investors should carefully watch how Amazon leverages GoPago's technology to become a major player in the mobile payment segment. It's also important for investors to watch how Amazon differentiates this mobile product from the growing competition in the space.

The bottom line
The recent acquisition of Braintree is an indicator that eBay is looking for new ways to drive innovation and improve the PayPal mobile platform. As users become more comfortable using mobile devices for financial transactions, the opportunities for mobile payment applications will grow. The future is mobile and the company that develops the best mobile payment application will likely capture the most market share.

Ever since Guess? reported its earnings results, the stock has been knocked down by as much as 10% on a disappointing outlook for the holiday quarter. With so many other women's clothing retailers showing similar struggles, such as Aeropostale , American Eagle Outfitters , and even New York & Company , perhaps the sell-off is a bit overdone in terms of long-term value.

Guess?
Guess? reported fiscal third-quarter results on Dec. 4. Revenue slipped 2.4% to $613.5 million. Same-store sales dropped 5%. Adjusted earnings per share dipped by $0.01 to $0.42. Although earnings beat the company's expectations and revenue was within the range, the declines certainly don't afford Guess? any bragging rights.

CEO Paul Marciano blamed "the economic climate in Southern Europe" for the ongoing declines. He sees positive trends in North America for the holiday quarter though they won't be strong enough to overcome Europe. Guess? expects fourth-quarter sales to be down 5%-8% to $750 million-$770 million, and diluted earnings per share to be down 12%-22% to $0.74-$0.84.

For the full year, the fourth-quarter guidance puts Guess? at an adjusted earnings per share of $1.73-$1.83. With a stock price of $31, this puts the 2013 P/E ratio at around 17-18. Based on 2014's average estimate of $2.05, Guess? is at a P/E ratio of 15. This does not seem expensive compared to others such as Aeropostale especially if Guess? is in the low-end of the retail cycle.

Aeropostale
In Aeropostale's last reported quarter, it got beat up far worse than Guess? did. Net sales got hacked 15%, same-store sales also got smacked 15%, and it posted a $0.29 per share adjusted net loss. Aeropostale blamed "heightened promotional levels and inconsistent mall traffic trends" which suggests that a large part of the problem for Guess? isn't unique to just Guess?.

Analysts expect Aeropostale to post a net loss for full-year 2013 and another large net loss next year. Given that Aeropostale doesn't even have any expected earnings going forward for calculating a P/E ratio, Guess?'s P/E of 15-18 doesn't seem so bad. What about American Eagle Outfitters?

American Eagle Outfitters
American Eagle Outfitters was shot out of flight last quarter. Revenue was down 6%, same-store sales dropped 5%, and adjusted earnings per share got slaughtered 54% to $0.19. Just like the others, American Eagle Outfitters blamed the promotional environment and economic challenges while noting a bit of an uptick on Black Friday.

Analysts expect American Eagle Outfitters to post adjusted earnings per share of $0.76 this fiscal year and $0.94 next fiscal year for P/E ratios of around 19 and 15, respectively. This is inline or even slightly worse than expectations for Guess? Then there's New York & Company.

New York & Company
New York & Company didn't do far better than the other three on the growth numbers, but its net loss improvement was still substantial. Sales fell 0.8%, same-store sales actually went up 3%, and net loss improved 10.5% to $3.4 million. New York & Company cautioned that guest traffic was slower than expected, but the company had a great Black Friday.

For the current fiscal year, analysts expect New York & Company to earn just $0.03. For next year, they expect $0.21. That puts next year's P/E ratio at over 20, making New York & Company the most expensive of the group.

Foolish final thoughts
Whether business conditions have truly reached a bottom is anybody's guess. Fools looking for a solid earner that hasn't priced in a turnaround may want to take a peek at Guess? With a cheap P/E, there appears to be zero speculation priced into the stock which means any uptick in the environment or business going forward and Guess? could be off to the races.

Throughout 2013, shares of Walt Disney performed very well. Not only did they outpace the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, but they also look as if they'll end the year as one of the top five best performing Dow components. Here's a look at the stock's performance year to date, compared with that of the major indexes' results:

DIS data by YCharts

The stock didn't pull away from the major indexes until the start of the second quarter. That's when we heard that Disney was preparing for layoffs at some of its film studios, including Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars that Disney had just acquired a few months earlier. At the time of the purchase, some investors questioned how much would change at Lucasfilm and whether Disney would force the issue on costs and other key business decisions. The layoff announcement answered those questions and acted as a catalyst to push the stock price higher.  

Around the same time, Iron Man 3 was being released in theaters. The film raked in $1.3 billion worldwide, while The Lone Ranger, released a month after Iron Man, also managed to make $900 million around the globe. Even though The Lone Ranger was considered a flop, both films combined gave the company a real revenue boost.  

They're also an example of the type of franchise-building that Disney is so good at. Films yield action figures and other merchandise, TV shows, short films, sequels, and sometimes even theme parks. Disney wrings out every last dollar it can and then moves right on to the next money-making idea, starting the cycle anew.

Looking ahead
I would expect that the months, quarters, and years ahead will give us more of what we've seen recently from Disney. The company is a well-oiled machine that really knows how to operate. The purchases of Lucasfilm, Marvel Comics, and even the Pixar studio all point to the company's desire for more content creation so that it can churn films out and roll those characters through the money-making cycle. Disney shareholders should hold on for the long road upward.

This was a big year in terms of mergers and acquisitions activity (i.e., investment banker fees), and 2014 is looking to start off on an even bigger note. While this year we saw consolidation in tech and industrials, the coming year looks to be about media and telecom giants. It's been a few years in the making as the industries' juggernauts debate over how to steer their respective businesses in the face of technological disruption and market saturation, but things are about ready to pop. For investors, its crucial to resist playing M&A speculation, but at the same time keeping abreast of the developments could present opportunity for current and prospective shareholders. Here are two big deals to watch for in 2014:

Cable crunch
Cable-industry forefather John Malone has been calling for consolidation for some time now, and it looks like 2014 may see the first fruits of that effort. Time Warner Cable appears destined to be an acquisition or, at least, a merger. The No. 1 player in the industry, Comcast , has shown interest on multiple occasions in either buying the company outright (likely with partners) or picking and choosing certain markets to buy that complement Comcast's existing portfolio.

On the other end is Malone-backed (and quarter-owned) Charter Communications . Investors can expect to see an offer pretty early on in 2014 as the company has already been rumored to be preparing a deal. Just this week, Liberty Media (Malone's vehicle) announced that it sees up to $700 million in potential synergies between Charter and Time Warner Cable. Time Warner's big shareholders are likely listening closely, and as content distributors' expenses continue to climb the name of the game becomes efficiency.

Charter and Time Warner Cable, along with Liberty Media, should feel the greatest shock from a potential deal. Remember, though, do not play speculation as deals frequently fall through at the last second.

Telecompetition
Sprint may be circling fellow telecom T-Mobile in the first half of 2014. Sprint would further its position as a leading mobile player (in terms of spectrum portfolio and subscriber count), but the deal looks likely to attract a close review from federal regulators. The FCC and DOJ are not shy of stepping in and preventing these mega-mergers, especially in the telecom industry.

Of course, the companies would negotiate with the government and attempt to reach a compromise, perhaps involving a third company in the deal that could benefit from the resources of either Sprint or T-Mobile.

For investors in either company, a successful merger or acquisition would be a long-term benefit to the business -- as long as the price is right and it's funded appropriately.

One more point to keep in mind is that while consolidation can aid in securing market share and widening a moat, it is not a substitute for pure innovation and organic growth. Every company mentioned here must still push hard to address the industry concerns and trends. Otherwise, the fee-making M&A activity only delays trouble.

Economic indicators typically include quantifiable data such as the number of new construction permits or the number of houses constructed during a period of time. However, the financial confidence of consumers also plays a vital role in the economy's general health. A tracking index can help investors decide when to invest in consumer-staples retailers such as Wal-Mart and Family Dollar or higher-end sellers such as Tiffany & Co. or Macy's .    . 

The Thomas Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index measures how comfortable -- or confident -- consumers feel about spending money in the current economic climate. Results come from telephone interviews and the index would show a perfect score at 100.   

December's final consumer sentiment reading was 82.5 overall -- inline with the preliminary estimate but below the expected 83. December's figure was up nearly 10% from November's 75.1. The gain came from retail's strong promotional environment at the moment, economic confidence returning after the shutdown, and personal income gains mostly for those in the top third of earners.  

So what can an investor do with the consumer sentiment readings? 

Investment plays
As the indicator's name would suggest, the clearest path to benefiting from sentiment growth is to invest in consumer goods. Weak growth points toward investing in consumer staples and stores with lower-priced products, such as Wal-Mart and Family Dollar. Continued strengthening means investors can move further into discretionary retailers such as Macy's or Tiffany & Co.

US Consumer Sentiment data by YCharts

However, as the chart shows, share prices of these companies won't mirror the indicator in the same way that happens with some other indicators, such as housing starts and builder stocks. Wal-Mart moves most closely to the indicator because its customer base tends to have the least consumer confidence in general so economic changes hit particularly hard. When Wal-Mart customers lose confidence, as happened during the recession, Family Dollar stands to benefit.  

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Tiffany's customers tend to have more economic confidence than consumers in general so its share price is less connected to the indicator. Macy's exists on a sweet middle ground as it has a more diverse mix of customers that helps remove some of the volatility from consumer confidence.  

So the consumer confidence index is more of a hint about current economic conditions than a blinking red sign pointing at a particular stock. However, when confidence shows consistent improvements, the time could prove right to move some consumer stocks off the watchlist. 

Investors can also play the indicator more broadly with a consumer goods ETF. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund  is highly liquid, which allows for easier trading, and contains a broad but easy-to-understand bucket of holdings. Food and staples retailers account for around a quarter of the ETF's holdings, with household products and beverages coming in close behind. The fund's affordable with a 0.18% expense ratio. 

Foolish final thoughts
Consumer sentiment continues to improve with the upper third of earners feeling the most confident. However, part of that confidence comes from a strong promotional environment that retailers can't sustain for the long run. So it's a good time to buy consumer goods stocks, but only while avoiding companies that rely too heavily on promotions. 

Restoration Hardware Holdings' stock has been a stunner since its 2012 IPO. It had doubled since May so a recent pullback was to be expected. Is it still a good house in the upscale home-goods neighborhood? Here are five things to consider.

Room at the top
The company recently reported and the stock sunk. However, it wasn't reacting to earnings, not after 15 straight quarters of double digit revenue growth, raised guidance, and margin expansion. The departure of co-CEO Carlos Alberini to head Lucky Brand took it down.  Alberini explained that at age 59, and with a long-held desire to run a company, Lucky was an opportunity too good to miss.

Concern over top management lingers as Alberini was credited as the day-to-day operations man. The Wall Street Journal also characterized Alberini as the more numbers-oriented guy. Current co-CEO and founder/curator Gary Friedman only returned to his job in July after a ten month board investigation into an inappropriate employee relationship.

CEO Gary Friedman

source: his Letter from the Chairman Emeritus

Friedman tends toward high-flown rhetoric and the unconventional. Since his return he has announced the company's entrances into the contemporary art market, music, and hotels. He also replaced the marketing department with a Truth Group. In a letter from the Chairman Emeritus he wrote:

We decided to eliminate the marketing department in favor of having a Truth Group, as marketing can at times be manipulative. We said to ourselves, if we are doing things we're truly passionate about, we don't have to worry about marketing campaigns.

Friedman is the brand and the man who staved off bankruptcy. Alberini will stay on the board but the company needs a day-to-day manager and has no replacement yet.

Macy's should be worried
On the second quarter call Friedman detailed the company's move into apparel as well as mentioning over thirty offers from prime malls to add Restoration Hardware to their top-tier locations.

Apparel and home goods is Macy's bailiwick and its higher-end Bloomingdales stores would feel the most impact from Restoration Hardware with its luxury high-end furnishings and apparel. Restoration Hardware morphing into a quasi-department store is a definite possibility.

At the Goldman Sachs Global Retailing Conference in September,  Friedman said, "We've long said that we believe we can curate a world far beyond the four walls of the home." Macy's, watch out.

So should Williams-Sonoma
Before Restoration Hardware Friedman was President of rival Williams-Sonoma . When he took the job as CEO of 'Resto' (as the company is known around the office) it was near bankruptcy. Friedman poured in $4.5 million of his own money (he is still the largest individual shareholder) and jettisoned fully half of Restoration Hardware's inventory to focus on high-end furnishings.

Williams-Sonoma owns Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Rejuvenation and competes in the $143 billion U.S. home-furnishings business. Restoration Hardware's outgoing Alberini said, "half of that spend is controlled by the affluent," the company's core customer.

Williams-Sonoma has 581 stores and seven e-commerce websites. It is a stable company with a yield of 2.10%, very little debt, and a very good corporate-governance risk rating of 1. Restoration Hardware has total debt of $134.49 million to $8.2 million cash and a corporate-governance risk rating of a high 7, mainly for compensation and shareholder rights.

Williams-Sonoma should be worried. During Friedman's 13-year tenure there he helped grow revenue at Williams-Sonoma almost ten-fold, and twenty-fold at Pottery Barn.

Location, location, location
Now, Restoration Hardware operates 84 stores which include 14 outlets in the U.S. Friedman said, "We have a five billion dollar company trapped in a billion dollar real estate."  He means that the company has the product assortment to fill five billion worth of real estate. The company plans to turn the 70 legacy stores into 45,000 square foot full-line locations like the five currently in major cities.

Similar larger-footprint openings have seen 50%-150% sales improvements. Management fully expects these to lift the company to a double-digit net operating margin from its current 8%.

The man with the blueprint
Friedman is an intrinsic and inextricable part of Restoration Hardware. Former boss and retail wizard Mickey Drexler told the San Francisco Chronicle, "He took a substantial risk with a major reinvention of Restoration Hardware. He basically took a moribund business and made it a relevant business." 

As Chief Curator, Friedman is very hands on, personally sourcing artisan furnishings and objets d'art. He was most recently involved in the restoration of the Historic Museum of Natural History into the Boston flagship gallery below.

Read any earnings transcript and a drinking game is easily possible with the word 'curate'. You gotta admire someone who says, "Let's make this really personal and do what we love. And if we go down, we go down in style."

Fixed up and ready to buy?
Friedman has truly fixed up Restoration Hardware. It was a penny stock before Friedman rode in on his eggshell-white horse. It is speculative but high-growth compared to Williams-Sonoma or Macy's with a forward P/E of 12.04 and a yield of 1.90%.

The risks are not finding a co-CEO to balance Friedman and brand extensions into apparel and art being too pie-in-the-sky. At the very least, Restoration Hardware is a better house than it was and in a nicer neighborhood.

U.S. investors have to be pleased with the performance of the Dow Jones Industrials in 2013, with the market up more than 20% amid positive sentiment about the economy. Globally, the Dow was among the best performers in the world, although a few major markets have done a bit better. What's perhaps most surprising, though, is the disparity between markets in the developed world and those in emerging-market countries, as many emerging markets suffered big losses in 2013. Let's take a closer look at the rift and what it means for your investing in 2014.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Lots of presents for Europe and Japan
Among major stock markets, the most impressive performance came from Japan's Nikkei , which climbed 47%. For U.S. investors, though, almost half of that gain was wiped out because of the drop in the value of the Japanese yen compared to the U.S. dollar. Many credit the yen's weakness as being the prime motivator for the rally, as a weaker currency supported large gains for Sony , Toyota , and other key Japanese export businesses and was part of the nation's economic policy attempts to bolster both economic growth and stock market indexes from decades of poor performance. Sony is up 63% over the past year, while Toyota was up more than 30% and has almost doubled in the past two years. Broadly, even adjusting for the dollar, Japan picked up about 24% in returns for U.S. investors.

Europe also showed substantial signs of life, despite seeing the opposite currency effect as the euro was stronger than the dollar. Markets in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy all rose 10% or more in local currency terms, equating to dollar-gains of 15% to 25%. Even beleaguered Greece put in an impressive performance, gaining more than 30% in dollar terms. With Europe finally starting to come out of recession, stock market investors got a jump on anticipated gains, just as they did in the U.S. four years ago.

Coal for emerging markets
But the global markets weren't kind to all stock investors. Emerging markets once again suffered, with the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF falling 4% over the past year.

Among the worst culprits, Brazil suffered major losses of 28% in dollar terms. Sluggish economic growth stemming from weak commodity markets sent Brazilian stocks down in local-currency terms, and a drop in the Brazilian real only exacerbated the losses for U.S. investors.

But Brazil wasn't the only emerging market to suffer. China dropped about 3% after adjusting for currencies, despite a strong recovery during the second half of the year. India's stock market actually rose in rupee terms, but a weak currency sent returns for U.S. investors into negative territory. Resource-dependent Russia saw similar drops of about 7% in dollar terms.

Looking forward, many investors are nervous about emerging markets because of the Federal Reserve's decision to start pulling back on bond-buying activity under quantitative easing. They see emerging markets as having benefited most from high levels of liquidity from the Fed, and as the central bank reverses course, emerging markets have seen the most damage. If that trend continues, we could see 2014 be a year of continued underperformance for emerging stock markets.

What's next for 2014?
Which stock markets will perform best in 2014 is anyone's guess. But with levels of economic activity starting to pick up not just in the U.S. but elsewhere in the world, there should be plenty of opportunities to profit from stocks next year and beyond.

As 2013 comes to an end, it's time to revisit one of the top priorities in the health-care industry: treating cancer. In 2013, 1.7 million new cases of cancer were reported in the United States, making up a large percentage of the estimated 2.7 million cases worldwide. Sadly, total global cases of cancer are expected to surge to 21 million by 2030.

But cancer treatments have considerably improved over the past few years, and patients now have more treatment options than ever. Companies like Inovio Pharmaceuticals , Roche , ImmunoGen , and Gilead Sciences are at the forefront of bringing revolutionary oncology treatments to the market.

As we head into 2014, let's take a look back at three revolutionary new ways to treat cancer, and how they can substantially improve the lives of patients.

Immunotherapy: Training the immune system to recognize cancer cells
One of the main reasons cancer cells proliferate is because the immune system has trouble locating them among healthy cells. Chemotherapy, the traditional method of treating cancer, has a severe drawback: It kills both cancerous and healthy cells, causing weakness, gastrointestinal problems, and hair loss.

That's where a new method of targeting cancer cells, known as immunotherapy, comes in.

Inovio, a development-stage biotech that is partnered with Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, is creating therapeutic cancer vaccines that can "train" a patient's immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign objects and destroy them.

Inovio accomplishes this through the use of two technologies: electroporation, which delivers the vaccine into the patient's body through brief electrical pulses, and synthetic DNA, which makes the vaccine slightly different from native human proteins with the intention of triggering an immune response.

Heading into 2014, Inovio has three main cancer vaccines investors should keep an eye on:

Source: Company website

Although all three vaccines are still in the very early stages of development, Roche's vote of confidence, which also extends to Inovio's hepatitis B vaccine, suggests Inovio's technology shows considerable promise.

Antibody-drug conjugates: Cancer smart bombs
Speaking of Roche, the oncology giant also markets one of two market approved antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), which are often nicknamed "cancer smart bombs."

ADCs are modified versions of monoclonal, or lab-created, antibodies, which are injected with cancer-killing chemotoxins. Monoclonal antibodies can be programmed to target certain mutations or overexpressions of growth hormones.

Roche's Herceptin, one of the most well-known monoclonal antibodies, seeks out HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) positive breast-cancer cells. HER2+ cancer cells, which account for 15% to 25% of all breast-cancer cases, are particularly aggressive since they send out more growth signals than other cells. Herceptin is specifically designed to locate that overexpression. When it locates the cell, it binds to it, blocking out the growth signals, and flags it for the immune system to recognize and destroy.

Roche's partner, ImmunoGen, turned Herceptin into an ADC known as Kadcyla. Kadcyla is an version of Herceptin "armed" with chemotoxin, which it injects into a cancer cell with ImmunoGen's proprietary linking technology.

In other words, Kadcyla "triple kills" the cancer cell -- by blocking growth signals, alerting the immune system, and injecting toxins -- while sparing the healthy cells nearby.

Therefore, the precision strikes that ADCs can carry out could eventually render chemotherapy obsolete. To date, however, only two ADCs have been approved: Kadcyla, which is approved in the U.S. and Europe, and Seattle Genetics' Adcetris, which is approved in the U.S. and Europe for two kinds of lymphoma.

Shutting down signalling pathways
Last but not least, investors should keep an eye on treatments targeting signalling pathways. In the human body, there are certain pathways that regulate cell death. Cancer cells often exploit defective signalling pathways to continue spreading.

One signalling pathway which is being explored is the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. If the pathway becomes defective, fewer cells die, which helps cancer cells proliferate. Inhibiting this signaling pathway is believed to be the key to developing better treatments for blood disorders, breast cancer, and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Of these PI3K inhibitors, the most prolific is Gilead Sciences' idelalisib, a treatment for two blood cancers -- chronic lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL) and indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (iNHL). In September, Gilead submitted a new drug application for idelalisib as a potential treatment of iNHL.

Infinity Pharmaceuticals is also working on IPI-145, a similar PI3K inhibitor for CLL, iNHL, and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL). But Infinity is far behind Gilead and is still enrolling patients for a phase 2 study.

Meanwhile, Pfizer has been testing a dual PI3K/mTOR pathway inhibitor for endometrial cancer, and has completed a study of another PI3K inhibitor for a wide variety of cancerous tumors. Novartis, Roche, AstraZeneca, Merck, and Sanofi are also working on similar treatments.

The Foolish takeaway
In closing, these new treatments -- immunotherapy, ADCs, and signaling pathway inhibitors -- could represent the future of oncology. While many of these treatments haven't been approved yet, they could significantly improve the lives of cancer patients by eliminating chemotherapy or wiping out cancer cells altogether.

Another company to keep an eye on