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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.

So, you want to invest? Fine. Let’s be clear: there’s risk. Plenty of it. But if you must play this game, here are three companies that, at least, seem to have a slightly better grasp of what they’re doing. Don’t come crying to me when it all goes south, though. I’m just a historian. And a slightly unreliable narrator.

One is inclined to consider, however, that a sustained series of innovations in the year 2026 could signal a favorable turn for this established technological house. It is not merely the devices themselves, but the currents they represent, that merit our attention.

Vistra Corp [VST 2.32%], they’ve been cleaning up. Up 652% over three years. That kind of number usually attracts attention, the kind that comes with a price tag. The stock dipped recently, a little wobble in the line, and now it’s hovering below $200. Makes the dividend look…interesting. So the question isn’t whether Vistra is a power play, but whether it’s a power play that’s about to fade.

They call it Optimus. A humanoid robot. The promise is efficiency, a future where machines do the work we don’t want to. Sounds good on paper. The market, predictably, is already pricing in a miracle. A stock can do funny things when fed a steady diet of dreams. I’ve seen it before. Plenty of times.

Navitas, a maker of… well, tiny, intricate things that make other things go, has seen its stock price do a rather enthusiastic jig lately – up 188% in the last twelve months. A performance that suggests either genuine innovation, or a very successful campaign of convincing people that it is genuinely innovative.¹ Arm, on the other hand, is up a more modest 13% year to date, but down 21% over the last year. But, and this is important, Arm seems the more sensible wager. Let’s delve into the why, shall we?

For those of us possessing the foresight – or, let us be honest, a touch of gambler’s intuition – to have invested a mere thousand dollars in Nvidia a decade past, the present offers a rather delightful arithmetic puzzle. A puzzle with a solution shimmering with five-digit numerals. It’s the sort of return that compels one to reconsider the very nature of ‘value’ and perhaps, invest in a small, exquisitely crafted writing desk.

It is a curious paradox. The underlying business, by all accounts, flourishes. Revenue growth accelerates with each passing quarter, a defiant surge against the tide of skepticism. Yet, the question persists, a gnawing unease: can this momentum, this apparent vitality, truly justify the premium valuation the market has bestowed? To contemplate a stock’s potential is to confront the bear case, to stare into the abyss of doubt. How far might Netflix fall, should investors lose faith in its long-term pricing power, adrift in this increasingly crowded sea of entertainment?