A Spot of Investment: Three Stocks, Perhaps?

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One really must admit, the market is becoming frightfully dull. All this talk of valuations and growth… terribly pedestrian. Still, a good stock at a reasonable price is always… amusing. And, frankly, one does need to occupy the time somehow. So, let’s have a peek at three possibilities that haven’t entirely succumbed to the prevailing hysteria.

Duolingo: A Linguistic Diversion

Duolingo, you see, is the company that encourages one to learn languages. Rather like a particularly persistent governess, but with an app. A surprising number of people – fifty million daily, in fact – seem to enjoy it, mostly for free. Though eleven and a half million are sufficiently desperate – or perhaps merely polite – to pay a small monthly fee. It’s all frightfully clever, and, more importantly, it’s growing. Revenue was up 41% last quarter, outpacing user growth – which is always a good sign. They even managed to turn a profit, which, in this day and age, is practically a miracle.

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The figures are rather encouraging, really. They anticipate another impressive quarter, and are, dare one say, consistently profitable. One can acquire a share for roughly fourteen times the anticipated earnings for 2026 – a perfectly reasonable sum, wouldn’t you agree? It’s a small company, certainly, but it possesses a certain… je ne sais quoi.

Nice: The Art of Conversation (Artificial, of Course)

Agentic artificial intelligence. A rather cumbersome phrase, isn’t it? Essentially, it’s a way of making computers sound convincingly human. One is rapidly approaching the point where one won’t be able to tell the difference – and frankly, that’s rather unsettling. Several companies are offering this technology, but Nice seems to have a rather firm grip on the market. Their client list is rather impressive – Visa, Accenture, Morgan Stanley, even Valvoline. One wonders what Valvoline requires a convincing chatbot for.

Growth has been a steady 8% year over year, which is perfectly respectable. They’re now incorporating true AI, and their annualized recurring revenue has jumped 66%. The industry itself is predicted to grow at a rather giddy 42% annually through 2031. One can pick up a share for about ten times the projected 2026 profit. A gamble, perhaps, but a potentially amusing one.

Dell Technologies: A Reliable Old Friend

Dell. Solid, dependable, and rather overlooked. They’ve been conspicuously absent from the AI hype, which, frankly, is rather refreshing. But don’t be fooled. They’re quietly getting involved, and their revenue grew 11% last quarter. They seem to be rather good at building customized platforms, which, one gathers, is what everyone wants these days.

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They anticipate another record year, with AI shipments up over 150%. Their pipeline is, apparently, “multiples” of their current backlog. The market, however, has decided to be tiresome and has sold off the stock. Shares are down nearly 30% from their recent peak. A perfectly irrational response, wouldn’t you say? One can acquire a share for about twelve times this year’s anticipated earnings. Analysts, of course, are predicting a price of $115.39. One suspects they’re probably right. It’s a rather dull investment, perhaps, but sometimes, one simply needs a bit of stability.

So there you have it. Three stocks, each with its own peculiar charm. Whether they’ll make you a fortune is, of course, another matter entirely. But then, life is rarely predictable, is it?

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2026-02-24 10:02