Tech Stocks: Less Fizz, More Future

Right then. Cryptocurrencies. A fascinating exercise in collective belief, aren’t they? Like a particularly enthusiastic game of ‘Pass the Parcel’ where the parcel is, well, nothing much, and the music might stop at any moment. The problem, you see, isn’t that they aren’t valuable. It’s that their value is determined by precisely… what was it? Oh yes. Hope. And a frankly alarming amount of caffeine. Which, while good for late nights, doesn’t tend to build a solid foundation for long-term investment.¹

Most of these digital whatsits lack what you might call ‘intrinsic worth’. No earnings, no cash flow, just… potential. Like a very promising goblin who keeps promising to build you a bridge. Stablecoins are marginally better – they’re anchored to something real, like the U.S. dollar, which, admittedly, is also a form of collective belief, but one with slightly more paperwork. The whole thing lacks the reassuring solidity of, say, a well-made boot. Or a company that actually makes things. And as we’ve seen lately, when the wind changes, these digital castles tend to dissolve rather quickly. The recent slump – a rather dramatic tumble from over four trillion dollars – was, shall we say, a cautionary tale. Blame geopolitical unrest, blame institutional investors getting cold feet, blame the inherent instability of anything built on promises. It all adds up.

But fear not, dear reader. There are still places to put your money where it might actually grow, rather than simply… fluctuate wildly. I’ve been looking at the stock market, and I’ve found a few companies that offer a rather more reassuring prospect. Less like chasing rainbows, more like… cultivating a moderately successful mushroom farm.² Here are three that have caught my eye – and, more importantly, haven’t given me a twitch of the accountant’s disapproval.

1. Alphabet

Alphabet. A name that sounds suspiciously like a secret code. And, in a way, it is. It’s the code for a company that owns a rather large chunk of the internet, and a surprising number of other things. It’s one of the “Magnificent Seven,” a group of companies so dominant they practically are the stock market. I’ve a sneaking suspicion they meet in a darkened room and decide the fate of nations, but that’s just a theory. I’ve ranked it as my top pick of the Magnificent Seven for 2026, and I’m sticking to it.

The stock’s currently on sale, which is always a good sign. Apparently, the market got a bit twitchy about the company announcing it’s going to spend a frankly astonishing 185 billion dollars on AI infrastructure. Which, let’s be honest, is a bit like complaining that a baker is buying flour. They reported strong revenue – 113.8 billion dollars, up 18% – and even stronger net income. But the market, being the fickle beast it is, decided to focus on the spending. My view? It’s a necessary investment. Google Cloud is growing at a phenomenal rate, and their Tensor Processing Units are a perfectly viable alternative to Nvidia’s graphics processing units. I’d rather see them invest in their own kit than prop up the competition. Google Cloud generated 17.6 billion dollars in revenue last quarter, up a whopping 47%. That’s not just growth, that’s a veritable explosion of digital prosperity.

2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, or TSMC as they’re known. Now, this is a company I like. They don’t make fancy gadgets or sell you advertising. They make the chips that go inside the gadgets. They’re the foundry, the engine room, the place where all the magic happens. Nvidia, Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices – they all rely on TSMC to actually make their chips. And TSMC is, quite simply, the best in the business. They had a 72% market share in the foundry market last quarter, up from 66%. That’s not just dominance, that’s a near-monopoly.

And the numbers speak for themselves. Revenue of 33.73 billion dollars last quarter, up 25.5%. And they’re forecasting even better revenue for the current quarter – between 34.6 and 35.8 billion dollars. TSMC offers the explosive potential of cryptocurrency, but with a fraction of the risk. They project a compound annual growth rate of 25% through 2029, and a gross margin of 56% or more. That’s not just a good investment, that’s a practically guaranteed one.³

3. Oracle

Oracle. Now, this might surprise you. It’s not a name you immediately associate with cutting-edge tech. But don’t let that fool you. The stock has dropped by over 35% in the last six months, making it deeply discounted. It’s like finding a perfectly good sword at a flea market.

Like Google, Oracle is seeing rapid growth in its cloud computing segment, which is now the company’s biggest revenue driver. They generated 7.97 billion dollars in revenue last quarter, up 34% – and that’s nearly half of Oracle’s overall revenue. And they’ve landed a rather significant deal with OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, to supply them with infrastructure and cloud computing services – a deal worth a staggering 300 billion dollars.

The risk with Oracle is its debt, which is over 100 billion dollars. They’re spending aggressively to expand their cloud computing offerings. But even that pales in comparison to the risks associated with cryptocurrencies. Oracle’s upside potential is simply too good to ignore. It’s a solid, reliable company, building something real. And in this increasingly digital world, that’s a rare and valuable thing indeed.

One suspects a significant portion of the crypto market is fuelled by caffeine and desperation.

A moderately successful mushroom farm is, arguably, a more stable and reliable investment than most cryptocurrencies.

Of course, nothing is ever

guaranteed

. But if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on TSMC.

2026-02-15 12:22

1. Alphabet

2. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

3. Oracle

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