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But hold on to your hats, because things are about to get interesting. You see, utility stocks are, by nature, defensive. They’re the financial equivalent of a heavily armored turtle. Safe, reliable…and not exactly built for speed. They compete with bonds for the affection of investors who’d rather count their pennies than risk a wild ride. And with interest rates soaring, these “widow and orphan stocks” – as The New York Times so charmingly called them back in 2000 – have been feeling a bit… neglected. (Honestly, it’s a terrible nickname. Makes them sound like they need a good home and a warm blanket.)

Microsoft. It’s a name that used to echo with the promise of a new age, a digital frontier. For a time, they were the clear leaders in this new realm, particularly with their cloud work and the rise of artificial intelligence. Azure powered much of what we now call ‘thinking machines’, including those chat programs everyone’s talking about. They’re still delivering, still growing—revenue up 17%, income climbing a respectable 21% to $81.3 billion. But the market, it seems, wants more than respectable. It wants miracles. It’s a greedy beast, the market, always wanting a bigger harvest than the land can yield.

The SPGM, you see, is a patient collector. It gathers the world’s equities – over 2,900 of them – like a seasoned botanist pressing specimens into a vast herbarium. It seeks not to judge, but to encompass. Its expense ratio, a modest 0.09%, is the price of such thoroughness, a small toll for access to the entirety of the global garden. The NZAC, however, is a curator, a discerning eye selecting only those blooms that meet a particular standard – alignment with the Paris Agreement. This selectivity comes at a slight premium, an expense ratio of 0.12%, but also offers a dividend yield marginally higher, 1.9% against SPGM’s 1.8%, a small offering to those who seek a return beyond mere growth. As of February 4th, 2026, the SPGM boasted a one-year return of 23.5%, a vigorous blossoming, while the NZAC, though still flourishing, yielded 17.6%. The difference, subtle as a shift in the wind, speaks to the complexities of focused investment.

AMD recently released its fourth-quarter results, which, while perfectly respectable, failed to ignite the sort of ecstatic response one might expect in these inflationary times. The market, it seems, demands miracles, and a mere fifteen per cent increase in profits is apparently insufficient. The stock, predictably, suffered a decline of seventeen per cent, a rather dramatic spasm that has, naturally, created an opportunity for those of us who prefer to buy when others are weeping.

Conventional mining necessitates terrestrial excavation. TMC proposes a submerged operation, a vertical extension of the mine shaft into the abyssal plains. The logistical complexities, already considerable on land, are amplified exponentially by the aqueous environment. Each meter descended adds a layer of bureaucratic entanglement, a new permit required, a further assessment of ecological impact – an impact, one suspects, that will forever remain incompletely understood.

Let us consider, then, five such holdings, each with its own character and potential for long-term yield.

The appeal, it seems, lies not in a breathless pursuit of novelty, but in a return to certain fundamental principles – a preference for value, for steady yield, for companies that, like old estates, have weathered many storms and continue to distribute their bounty. This is not the realm of speculative excess, but of a more considered, almost patient accumulation.

Rocket Lab began as the project of a New Zealander, Peter Beck, and has grown into a company with ambitions that, while not unreasonable, are presented with a degree of optimism rarely justified in the realm of investment. It initially focused on small-scale launches, filling a niche previously overlooked. More recently, it has expanded into the construction of space systems – satellites and the like – a logical progression, but one that demands substantial capital.

It’s a small cap, which already puts it at a disadvantage. Wall Street seems to have a pathological aversion to anything under a billion or two. It’s like they can’t see it on the screen. Tenable is currently valued around $2.5 billion, which, in the grand scheme of things, is less than the cost of a decent yacht. Compared to the behemoths like CrowdStrike (CRWD +0.60%) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW 0.11)—companies valued in the triple digits—it’s practically invisible. And its stock, well, it’s been having a bit of a moment. Down 65% from its 2022 peak. A steep drop, even for a company whose business involves preventing things from falling apart.

Thirty-six million shares. Indirectly, of course. Because direct ownership is just… too straightforward. There’s always a layer. Sprott Mining Inc. and then 2176423 Ontario Ltd… it’s like a Russian nesting doll of holding companies. Who even keeps track of this? And the price, $45.99. They couldn’t make it a round number? It’s just… irritating. They open at $53.53. The fluctuation! It’s designed to make you feel like you’re constantly losing.