America’s Secret Venture Reserve

Every so often, Washington faces a challenge so serious it changes where the money flows. 

Sputnik was one. Japan’s push to dominate semiconductors was another.  

Each time, the response was the same… 

Behind the scenes, a powerful network of agencies and programs quietly poured capital into a new wave of breakthrough companies – and, in the process, minted some of the greatest tech fortunes in history. 

Today, that same trend is happening with artificial intelligence. 

China has made no secret of its goal. It wants to leapfrog the United States in AI and use that edge to tilt both economic and military power in its favor.  

Washington has taken that warning seriously. 

The Trump administration has already signaled it will do whatever it takes to stay ahead.  

Trillions of dollars are earmarked for AI-linked infrastructure: data centers, energy grids, advanced chips, secure communications, and defense systems that think and react at machine speed.  

Even the biggest tech giants – chipmakers, cloud providers, defense primes – are lining up alongside the Pentagon because they know what’s at stake. 

Indeed, the nation that masters the next generation of AI – fast, scalable, and self-improving – will hold an immeasurable advantage.  

Which raises the question every smart investor should be asking right now. 

If Washington is once again hand-picking strategic companies, showering them with contracts, and backing them with years of visibility – where are those dollars actually going? 

Of course, some of the money will go to the names we already know – the mega-cap semiconductor and cloud stocks. And they’ve already had explosive runs.  

But the biggest long-term AI winners will emerge from smaller stocks. I’m talking about the lesser-known firms that supply the data, networks, electronics, and services the entire AI build-out depends on. 

In this report, I’ll show you five of those companies. None is a speculative startup. All have real revenues, real contracts, and a clear role in what amounts to the largest coordinated technology push since the Cold War. 

Planet Labs (PL): The All-Seeing Eye of American AI 

If AI is the brain, Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) is building the eyes. 

The company operates one of the world’s largest fleets of Earth-imaging satellites, capturing high-resolution images of the planet on a near-daily basis.  

Coastlines. Border crossings. Ports. Pipelines. Fields. Roads. No other company on Earth offers that kind of persistent, global coverage at this scale. 

And in the age of AI, that isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s mission-critical. 

Its data platform allows governments, defense agencies, and commercial customers to monitor changes on the ground – from military activity and infrastructure development to agriculture and environmental shifts. 

Rather than selling satellites, Planet sells access to its continuously updated data and analytics. This subscription-based model creates recurring revenue while positioning the company as a critical provider of real-time geospatial intelligence in an increasingly data-driven world.  

Modern defense and intelligence don’t run on hunches. They run on data. AI systems can flag a suspicious convoy on a dirt road in minutes – but only if they’re fed fresh, high-resolution imagery as the world shifts in real time.  

That’s Planet Lab’s job in this new order. 

Here’s what grabbed my attention in the company’s most recent financials. 

Planet Lab’s remaining performance obligations – essentially locked-in future revenue – more than doubled to $852 million. That tells me that this not a startup chasing promises. It’s a company with serious forward visibility.  

Full-year revenue in 2025 hit a record $307.7 million, up 26%. Fourth-quarter revenue accelerated even faster, growing 41% year over year to $86.8 million. And cash on Planet Labs’ balance sheet surged to $640 million, a gain of 188%.  

The strategic kicker?  

Planet Lab was just selected as a prime contractor on the Missile Defense Agency’s SHIELD vehicle – an umbrella contract with a ceiling of up to $151 billion across all participants. That doesn’t mean Planet Lab pockets the whole contract. But it does mean the company now sits on the approved roster for a long pipeline of AI-driven surveillance and missile defense work. 

Competition in Earth observation is heating up. And the biggest profits may eventually flow to whoever builds the smartest analytics on top of the imagery, not just the firm capturing it. 

But right now, Planet has something every competitor needs: a global, daily, machine-readable view of the entire planet. If America is going to use AI to watch the world in real time, it needs a constant, trusted flow of images. In that race, Planet is no longer a bit player. It’s becoming foundational.  

For investors looking for a dynamic, younger way to play AI-plus-defense, Planet Labs deserves a close look. 

Recommendation: Buy Planet Labs (NYSE: PL) at market, and set a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and profits. 

Maximus (MMS): The Invisible Hand Rewiring Washington 

Maximus (NYSE: MMS) isn’t an obvious AI stock. That’s precisely why it could surprise you. 

The company runs some of the largest, most complex service programs that touch everyday Americans – health and human services, eligibility processing, citizen contact centers. It works with Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment systems – and supports defense and intelligence agencies with data management, cybersecurity, and digital modernization.  

Last year, Maximus booked just over $3 billion in revenue from its government clients. That’s about 55% of the company’s total sales. And the company is tied to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ multibillion-dollar Contact Center Operations (CCO) contract. 

When you think of the machinery of the US government, Maximus is often in the engine room. 

Now that same machinery is starting to absorb AI. 

Think about what agencies actually need: faster document reviews, smarter call routing, less manual data entry, better fraud detection, shorter wait times.  

These aren’t flashy applications. But they’re exactly the tasks modern AI handles well. And Maximus has a front-row seat to all of it. 

And the company’s financials reveal an even better story, but not on the surface…  

In its fiscal first quarter of 2026, Maximus posted $1.35 billion in revenue – slightly below the $1.40 billion from a year earlier.  

The slight decline in sales surely led some investors to stop reading right there. That’s their mistake. 

I looked past the headline revenue numbers to Maximus’ real story: margin expansion. 

Operating margin jumped from 6.2% to 10.9%. Adjusted EBITDA margin climbed from 11.2% to 12.7%. Diluted EPS rose to $1.70, with adjusted EPS at $1.85. Management raised its full-year earnings outlook even as it tightened revenue guidance. 

In plain English: Maximus is learning to do more with less. That’s exactly what AI is supposed to do for a government contractor – reduce the labor intensity of every case handled, every call answered, every form processed. Over time, that deepens relationships, improves margins, and makes incumbents harder to dislodge. 

Plus, the same tools that help Maximus could eventually tempt some agencies to bring more work in-house. New platform vendors could automate pieces of the process that once required large teams. I’ll be watching this closely. 

However, in complex, heavily regulated programs, experience isn’t easily replicated. Agencies don’t rip out core systems. They lean on the firms that already know the code, the rules, and the penalties for getting it wrong. 

For long-term investors, boring can be beautiful. Maximus is a pick-and-shovel play on the most durable side of AI: the slow, grinding upgrade of the government’s daily operations. 

Recommendation: Buy Maximus (NYSE: MMS) at market, and set a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and profits. 

Mercury Systems (MRCY): The Combat-Grade Brains Behind AI at the Edge 

The headlines in AI are all about cloud data centers. When you bring AI to the battlefield, it’s a different world entirely. 

In military operations, AI has to run on rugged hardware – sitting on a jet, a drone, a ship, or a radar station – and it has to work the first time, every time, in the most unforgiving conditions imaginable.  

That’s where Mercury Systems (Nasdaq: MRCY) comes in. 

Mercury designs and builds embedded computing, signal processing, and electronic systems for aerospace and defense customers. It’s the “inside” of many of the high-end platforms that never make the news. The ones that matter most when things go wrong. 

After a tough stretch, the company is showing real signs of turning the corner.  

Last year, Mercury inked a two-year, $8.5 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop advanced RF signal conditioning technology. And in January, the company reported contract awards of more than $60 million with several U.S. space and strategic weapons programs. 

And the timing couldn’t be better. 

In its fiscal second quarter of 2026, Mercury reported revenue of $233 million, up 4.4% from a year earlier. More importantly, adjusted EBITDA rose a whopping 36.3% to $30 million, and free cash flow swung to a positive $46 million. Cash on the balance sheet reached roughly $335 million. And backlog – the best forward indicator in defense – climbed to about $1.5 billion, up 8.8% year over year. 

This isn’t a rocket ship yet. But it tells me the company is stabilizing, right as AI is beginning to reshape what the Pentagon actually buys. 

Think about the next decade… 

Smarter drones. Jam-resistant communications. Real-time targeting. Electronic warfare. Every one of those capabilities requires serious computing power on the platform itself – not in some distant cloud. That’s Mercury’s wheelhouse. And as the Pentagon accelerates its AI push, the demand for combat-grade edge computing is only going in one direction. 

To be fair, Mercury operates in a world of complex programs, tight specs, and unforgiving customers. Delays or cost overruns hit margins fast. Larger players are always competing for the same design wins. 

But if management keeps converting backlog into cash and continues to rebuild margins, the market will start to see Mercury for what it could become: a direct play on the hard side of AI in defense. Not another software story. The real thing. 

Recommendation: Buy Mercury Systems (Nasdaq: MRCY) at market, and set a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and profits. 

V2X (VVX): The Quiet Force Keeping the AI War Machine Running 

Every tech boom has its glamour names. And every boom is quietly powered by companies doing the less glamorous work. 

V2X Inc. (NYSE: VVX) is one of the latter. 

The company provides mission support, logistics, training, and operational services to U.S. and allied government customers. In short, it helps the world’s most sophisticated military actually use the tools it buys. And that role becomes more important – not less – as those tools grow more intelligent. 

AI-enabled systems aren’t plug-and-play. They have to be installed, integrated, maintained, and constantly updated.  

Pilots and crews must be trained. Data pipelines must be protected. Bases and networks have to stay up.  

That’s V2X’s specialty – and it’s a steadier business than most people realize. 

The numbers back that up…  

In 2025, V2X reported full-year revenue of $4.48 billion, up 4% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $323.3 million. The fourth quarter showed even stronger momentum – with revenue rising 5% to $1.22 billion and adjusted EPS jumping 17% to $1.56. 

Management’s 2026 outlook calls for revenue between $4.6 billion and $4.8 billion, with adjusted EBITDA between $335 million and $350 million. Steady growth, improving profitability, healthy portfolio of active contracts. In a rising budget environment, that’s exactly what you want to see. 

The market will never give V2X the stock multiples it gives a hot AI software name. That’s fine. This is a different kind of story. The main risk is contract concentration – if a large award slips or budgets get reshuffled, growth can flatten quickly. Over time, AI could also make some support functions more efficient, pressuring service providers to move up the value chain. 

But for now, Washington isn’t just buying more advanced systems. It’s committing to sustain them in the field for decades. Companies like V2X that live in that sustainment layer tend to build long, sticky relationships and a steady stream of cash flow. 

V2X has a seat on the ATSP5 – a $25 billion AI-oriented engineering and modernization government program. And the company boasts $100 million in classified national security contracts booked in Q4 2025. 

For investors who want AI exposure without betting everything on one big theme, V2X offers something rare in this space: durability. 

Recommendation: Buy V2X (NYSE: VVX) at market, and set a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and profits. 

Iridium Communications (IRDM): The Last Line When Everything Else Goes Dark 

Every modern system has one weak point. Lose the connection, and everything stops. 

That’s where Iridium Communications (Nasdaq: IRDM) comes in. 

Iridium operates a global satellite constellation that delivers voice and data services far beyond the reach of any cell tower on Earth. It serves aviation, maritime, defense, emergency services, and industrial customers – the people and organizations that simply cannot afford to lose the link. 

In an AI-driven world, that kind of connectivity becomes a weapon. 

Intelligent drones still need commands. Remote sensors still need to send data. Ships, planes, and vehicles still need to stay in contact across oceans, deserts, and polar regions. These are places where no terrestrial network can reach – but a low-earth-orbit satellite grid can.  

And Iridium has built one of the best on the planet. 

On the financial side, Iridium looks stellar. It boasts five consecutive years of revenue and subscriber growth (2021-2025). And last year, the company secured a 5-year $85.8 million U.S. Space Force contract in 2025 for infrastructure upgrades supporting military communications.  

Iridium is scheduled to report first-quarter 2026 results in April. That update will give investors a fresh look at demand, margins, and AI-related commentary from management. This is a report that I’ll be watching. 

Now, there are competitors in the industry that are launching constellations of their own. 

But Iridium boasts a fully deployed, battle-tested system with an existing customer base across mission-critical markets. That network took years and billions of dollars to build. 

Iridium isn’t an AI software bet. It’s a pick-and-shovel bet on the communications layer that AI will quietly depend on for years. When everything else goes dark, Iridium keeps talking. 

Recommendation: Buy Iridium Communications (Nasdaq: IRDM) at market, and set a 25% trailing stop to protect your principal and profits. 

Final Thoughts

These companies might be tackling AI from different angles. But they share three critical similarities…  

First, each one stands directly in the path of real government money – defense budgets, contract vehicles, long-term service agreements, and infrastructure spending tied to America’s stated goal of AI leadership. 

Second, each offers a way to tap the AI boom without paying nosebleed prices for the same handful of mega-caps everyone already owns. These companies aren’t completely unknown – but they are dramatically under-owned and under-discussed compared with the giants. 

Third, and most importantly: Each will matter more as AI continues to expand.  

Eyes on the world. Smarter government operations. Combat-grade edge computing. Field sustainment. Always-on connectivity.  

These companies are providing the backbone of America’s AI future.