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 venture firm that put the first institutional money into SpaceX.
Thiel Macro LLC, the fund run by the PayPal and Palantir co-founder, recently filed its second-quarter 13F. The filing shows the fund bought 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 worth $42.22 million at the end of the quarter, and the FirstEnergy stake was worth $39.90 million.
In this article, we will focus on AEP.
The Bull Case for AEP
For decades, American Electric Power was just a major utility company providing electricity to American households, with no prospects of explosive growth. But the AI boom changed everything. Training and running large models need enormous amounts of round-the-clock electricity, and hyperscalers are racing to build data centers wherever they can get power. Demand is now coming to AEP faster than it can serve it. Why? Because it runs a major transmission network 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 data centers. Texas customers alone have put up nearly $2 billion in cash and collateral. If a customer walks away, termination fees and minimum demand clauses protect the shareholder.
AEP locks customers in with letters of agreement, electric service agreements and large-load tariffs that require minimum demand after ramp, plus collateral and termination fees.
Management raised fiscal 2026 operating EPS guidance and reaffirmed a growth rate up to 9% through 2030. AEP has secured 13 gigawatts of gas turbines through 2031 with an option on 10 more through 2035, which is a real advantage when turbines are scarce.
Risks and Valuation
Bears say the 69 gigawatts is contracted load, not revenue. The Texas piece depends on eligibility rulings, allocation decisions running into 2027, generation availability and transmission construction.
Valuation reflects a lot of optimism. The stock trades at a forward 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 history.
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