Thomas Edison went through thousands of trials while he was inventing the light bulb. He struck out again and again, until finally… there was light.

Later, he was asked if it was daunting, failing like that so many times.

#-ad_banner-#His pithy reply has become famous: “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

It’s exactly that spirit of innovation and invention that’ drives many of the stocks I choose for my premium newsletter advisory, Top 10 Stocks. In fact, I even have a name for these stocks… I call them “American Innovators.”

And today, I want to share with you one recent example of the kind of success we’ve had investing in American Innovators. I firmly believe the recent success we’ve had from this pick is a signal of further big changes coming for American industry — and that it will create substantial opportunities most investors have no idea are coming.

On June 26 this year, I sold my holdings in Alcoa (NYSE: AA), locking in a strong gain of more than 60% over the previous seven months. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained only 10%.

I actually believe the stock could go higher — and potentially a lot higher — from here. In fact, following my sale, the company released a good set of second-quarter financials. As I’d speculated in my note to subscribers, that performance triggered further gains — with the company jumping 5.6% in a single trading session on July 9.

‘The gains’ my subscribers and I have enjoyed from Alcoa are notable. But what’s potentially even more important is the story behind the firm’s recent super-charged stock run.

Simply put, Alcoa is a story of corporate transformation.

Historically, Alcoa has been a stalwart of the basic materials sector. When most investors think of Alcoa, they think aluminum beverage cans.

But Alcoa has in fact been a leader in pushing new uses of aluminum. The firm maintains a significant research and development division that has pioneered a number of ground-breaking products — such as a recently unveiled truck wheel that is 47% lighter than traditional steel wheels.

In fact, it’s another key corporate transformation along these lines that pushed Alcoa past my target price of $15 last month. The company announced a $3 billion bid for Firth Rixson — a specialty maker of parts for the aerospace industry — on June 26.

At the same time as this transformative acquisition hit the market, Alcoa made some subtle changes to its market positioning, further suggesting that the company is no longer a basic materials turtle, but rather a high-tech eagle getting set to soar.

And here’s the critical thing. Not only is this great news for Alcoa’s investors — but as I said earlier — I believe it may also signal a subtle but powerful shift underway in American industry as a whole, where U.S. firms are using ingenuity and expertise as their primary competitive advantage in the global economy.

Alcoa’s strategic move to the high-tech sector makes complete sense when we look at what’s happening elsewhere in the world.

You see, places like China and Latin America have huge advantages over U.S. firms when it comes to lower production costs and access to cheap labor. That’s not news to most investors.

But before you write U.S. firms off, remember that expertise and innovation are an area where America has long been the dominant global force. A recent study by Thomson Reuters found that of the 100 most innovative companies on the planet, 45 were based in the United States.

Such a culture of invention and continuous improvement gives U.S. firms a big leg up when it comes to designing high-end specialty products — like aerospace equipment, for example. This is an arena where America has big advantages over the developing world — essentially acting as the “brain center” for the global economy.

Just look at recent developments in a completely different industry — oil and gas.

America has been the driving force in revolutionizing petroleum production through advanced drilling techniques like hydraulic fracturing. Estimates show the United States may now be the largest oil producer in the world.

This is a direct result of a relentless push for innovation in the oil field services sector. It took decades for drillers to optimize shale techniques. But now it’s paying off. The rest of the world still hasn’t caught up to this advanced technology. Exploration companies working on shale plays in Europe and Asia constantly lament the poor quality of services in these locales.

Drillers in these parts of the world constantly struggle to “get it right.” And even when they do, costs are generally double or triple what the ultra-competitive North American oil services sector can deliver.

Many global investors have written off the U.S. as “over the hill.” But all of this suggests the American innovation advantage may be one of the most powerful drivers of profits for domestic firms going forward.

The transformation of a firm like Alcoa is the perfect example of a company embracing innovation as a strategy to remain competitive on the global stage. I’m expecting others to follow the same path and usher in a new golden age of innovation among U.S. companies.

P.S. — As I mentioned earlier, although we locked in our 60% gain from Alcoa in Top 10 Stocks, I think shares still have room to run. But the next American Innovators could easily deliver stock performances equal to (or perhaps even greater than) the big gain we enjoyed from Alcoa. I’ll be looking for the next American Innovators in future issues of Top 10 Stocks, and I suggest you do the same.