Peter Thiel is a billionaire investor who co-founded PayPal and Palantir. He was the first outside investor in Facebook, and he runs Founders Fund, the enterprise firm that put the first institutional money into SpaceX.
Thiel Macro LLC, the fund run by the PayPal and Palantir co-founder, lately filed its second-quarter 13F. The submitting reveals the fund purchased 308,617 shares of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) and 839,319 shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the second quarter. The AEP stake was price $42.22 million at the finish of the quarter, and the FirstEnergy stake was price $39.90 million.
In this article, we will focus on AEP.
The Bull Case for AEP
For many years, American Electric Power was just a main utility company offering electrical energy to American households, with no prospects of explosive growth. But the AI growth modified everything. Training and working giant fashions need monumental quantities of round-the-clock electrical energy, and hyperscalers are racing to construct knowledge facilities wherever they can get energy. Demand is now coming to AEP quicker than it can serve it. Why? Because it runs a main transmission community in the US across 11 states. The company now has 69 gigawatts of contracted load additions through 2030, up 6 gigawatts in the second quarter alone. Around 90% of that is knowledge facilities. Texas clients alone have put up almost $2 billion in money and collateral. If a buyer walks away, termination charges and minimal demand clauses shield the shareholder.
AEP locks clients in with letters of settlement, electric service agreements and large-load tariffs that require minimal demand after ramp, plus collateral and termination charges.
Management raised fiscal 2026 working EPS steering and reaffirmed a growth price up to 9% through 2030. AEP has secured 13 gigawatts of gasoline generators through 2031 with an option on 10 more through 2035, which is a actual benefit when generators are scarce.
Risks and Valuation
Bears say the 69 gigawatts is contracted load, not income. The Texas piece relies upon on eligibility rulings, allocation selections working into 2027, technology availability and transmission construction.
Valuation displays a lot of optimism. The stock trades at a ahead non-GAAP P/E of 19.2 against a sector median of 17.81, a 7.69% premium, and against AEP’s own five-year average of 17.98, a 6.71% premium. Trailing non-GAAP P/E is 20.42 versus a 19.14 sector median and an 18.48 five-year average, so the trailing premium runs wider at 10.48% above its own historical past.
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