In today’s market, attention has become one of the most misunderstood variables in investing.

Stocks trend on social media. Narratives spread instantly. Opinions multiply faster than fundamentals. And while that can be entertaining, it often works against long-term returns.

Because attention is rarely free.

When everyone is talking about a stock, expectations rise. Valuations stretch. Future performance has to be exceptional just to justify today’s price. In many cases, the upside gets pulled forward.

Silence, on the other hand, creates space.

When a company is improving quietly, without dominating headlines or timelines, mispricings tend to last longer. That’s where patient investors can do their best work.

This is why I pay close attention to stocks nobody seems interested in talking about.

Markets are not perfectly efficient, especially over short and medium time frames. Prices don’t just reflect fundamentals. They reflect narratives, positioning, and attention.

When a stock lacks attention, a few things often happen:

That combination can be frustrating, but it’s also where opportunity shows up.

Low attention doesn’t mean low quality. It often means the story isn’t exciting enough right now. And that’s exactly when fundamentals matter most.

The key is separating “quiet because it’s broken” from “quiet because it’s boring.”

Quiet quality doesn’t mean zero risk. It means the business fundamentals are stronger than the narrative around them.

Here’s what I look for:

When those boxes are checked, silence becomes an asset, not a red flag.

Let’s walk through a few examples.

ServiceNow is a perfect example of quiet quality.

It’s not flashy. It’s enterprise software. It doesn’t trend on social media. But it sits at the center of mission-critical workflows for large organizations.

The revenue is recurring. Customers are sticky. Switching costs are real. Over time, scale creates operating leverage, and margins improve.

Despite all of that, $NOW rarely gets talked about outside of earnings season. There’s no hype cycle. No cult following.

That lack of noise helps keep expectations reasonable and creates opportunities when the market broadly sells off or rotates elsewhere.

Healthcare isn’t exciting. That’s the point.

UnitedHealth operates in one of the most durable demand environments imaginable. People don’t opt out of healthcare because of economic cycles. Scale matters immensely. Data, networks, and cost management compound over time.

$UNH doesn’t need viral growth stories to work. It needs consistency.

When the stock pulls back, it’s often because of short-term noise, not long-term impairment. That disconnect between business durability and temporary sentiment is where quiet compounding happens.

Restaurants rarely get included in “serious” long-term conversations, which is exactly why $CAKE is interesting.

The Cheesecake Factory brand itself is a cash flow machine. It funds growth internally. Meanwhile, concepts like North Italia and Flower Child provide incremental growth levers without putting the core business at risk.

This isn’t a story stock. It’s an execution stock.

And because it’s not exciting, it often trades at valuations that don’t fully reflect its durability or optionality.

Adobe used to be a market darling. Then sentiment shifted.

Concerns around AI disruption, slowing growth, and valuation fatigue pushed the stock into the “boring” category. That’s where quiet quality often re-emerges.

Adobe still has deeply embedded products, massive creative mindshare, and pricing power. AI isn’t removing its relevance. It’s expanding the toolset and deepening user engagement.

When a company of this quality becomes a topic people stop debating, I pay attention.

PayPal is the definition of low-attention right now.

The narrative is tired. Growth slowed. Competition increased. Sentiment is washed out.

But underneath that, the company still generates significant cash flow, has a massive installed base, and is actively buying back shares. Expectations are low. The bar to surprise is not high.

That’s often where returns come from.

Quiet doesn’t mean perfect. It means the market has stopped caring enough to argue.

Most investors underestimate how much attention distorts pricing.

When attention is high:

When attention is low:

Quiet stocks give you time. Time to accumulate. Time to be wrong short term without being forced out. Time for the math to catch up.

That’s a luxury you don’t get with crowded trades.

Attention is a tax.

You pay it through higher prices, higher expectations, and lower margins for error.

Silence, when paired with quality, is opportunity.

Not every quiet stock is a winner. But many winners spend long stretches being ignored before they’re appreciated.

That’s where I’m most comfortable doing my work.

Inside my Surmount strategy, I actively look for businesses like these. Companies with strong fundamentals, durable demand, and valuations that don’t reflect long-term reality because attention has moved elsewhere.

The goal isn’t to chase what’s loud. It’s to accumulate what’s quietly compounding.

This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. All opinions are my own and based on publicly available information. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of capital. Always do your own research and consider your financial situation before making any investment decisions.