American Electric Power (aep) Secures Up To $3.26 Billion In Federal Funding To Modernize Texas Grid

Guinness Global Investors recently released its “Global Real Assets Fund” August 2026 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund returned 0.8% in July, underperforming the MSCI World Core Infrastructure Index’s 1.8% gain by 1 percentage point, but remained ahead year to date, returning 11.1% versus 10.9% for the benchmark, and delivered a 14.0% one-year return compared with 13.7% for the index. Relative performance was primarily affected by the fund’s underweight allocation to industrials, the strongest-performing index sector, which gained 5.3% during the month; real estate rose 3.2%, energy gained 1.6%, and utilities declined 0.6%. The broader market was influenced by renewed Middle East hostilities, Brent crude prices briefly reaching $100 a barrel, and rising long-term government bond yields, including a 30-year U.S. Treasury yield increase from 4.95% to 5.27%. Looking ahead, Guinness remains focused on long-term opportunities in infrastructure, energy transition, data centres, and real estate, with particular optimism about U.S. senior housing, where occupancy exceeded 90% in the first quarter and new construction fell to approximately 2% of existing stock. The manager believes favorable demographic trends, constrained supply, improving occupancy, and operational growth could support returns, while continuing to monitor valuations and the risk of future oversupply. In addition, please check the Fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2026.

In its third-quarter 2026 investor letter, Guinness Global Real Assets Fund highlighted stocks like American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP). American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) is an electric utility that operates power generation, transmission, and distribution assets. Its investment in modernizing the Texas electricity grid is intended to strengthen grid reliability and support rising power demand from households, businesses, and energy-intensive infrastructure. The one-month return of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) was 3.15% while its shares traded between $112.54 and $140.58 over the last 52 weeks. On October 12, 2026, American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) stock closed at approximately $124.23 per share, with a market capitalization of about $67.77 billion.

Guinness Global Real Assets Fund stated the following regarding American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) in its Q3 2026 investor letter:

“American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP), the listed US electric utility, secured a loan of up to USD3.26bn from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing for its AEP Texas subsidiary to strengthen and modernise the Texas grid. The financing is expected to lower electricity costs for more than one million Texas households and businesses by c.USD685m over the next 30 years, while improving grid reliability and supporting job creation.”

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American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) is not on our list of 40 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds Heading Into 2026. As per our database, 65 hedge fund portfolios held American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) at the end of the second quarter, which was 62 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

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Should you invest in AEP now?

In another article, we covered American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEP) and shared why Billionaire Peter Thiel’s fund is betting on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2026 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.