2026 US Stock “Dark Horse” Unveiled

I. The Power Cornerstone of the U.S. Stock Market: American Electric Power (AEP) – Transcending the “Power Delivery Challenge” Bottleneck

American Electric Power (AEP) is one of the largest electricity transmission companies in the United States, a utility giant with a long history. For a long time, as a regulated power company, AEP’s profits were stable but growth was slow, leading investors to often misunderstand it as a traditional “power plant and electricity sales” enterprise, failing to fully recognize its strategic value in the future economy.

However, with the explosive growth in AI computing demand, data center construction is far outstripping grid expansion, causing the “power delivery challenge” to become a bottleneck restricting AI development. Power transmission capacity, once an overlooked link, is now scarce and valuable.

AEP owns about 90% of the 765kV ultra-high voltage transmission network in the U.S. The transmission capacity of one such line is equivalent to six ordinary lines, with extremely low loss, making it an indispensable partner for data centers, akin to the “exclusive highway” for power transmission.

More importantly, about 95% of AEP’s business is regulated, meaning its revenue is not “dependent on luck” but based on government-approved rates, with an asset base projected to grow by about 8% annually. This gives it inflation-hedging properties, making it a “long-term business.”

Currently, AI giants like Amazon, Google, and Tesla have pre-locked 28GW of load with AEP, with another 180GW of potential projects in the queue. At the same time, AEP has signed 85% minimum payment agreements with large data centers, locking in stable revenue for the next 12 years.

Of course, investing in AEP also carries certain controversies and risks. First is interest rate risk: AEP’s $72 billion investment plan is sensitive to financing costs, and persistent inflation could keep interest rates high, thereby depressing profits. Second is regulatory pace: electricity price adjustments and new project approval processes might be slower than expected, affecting revenue realization. Finally, project and client progress: delays in data center construction or commissioning directly impact the timing of AEP’s related revenue.

However, AEP plans to invest $72 billion over the next five years in grid modernization and expansion, which is expected to form a “massive investment – expanded asset base – steady profit growth” flywheel, with long-term earnings growth guidance of 7%-9%.

II. AI Computing New Engine: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) – The Revolution from “Storing Things” to “Thinking”

Micron Technology, Inc. (MU), a global leader in memory chip manufacturing, has seen its stock price surge over 240% in the past year, yet the market still widely believes its value is underestimated.

The biggest bottleneck for current AI computing power is not insufficient GPU power, but rather the inability of data transfer speeds to keep up, leading to the “memory wall” problem and wasted computing power. In 2026, NVIDIA’s Rubin architecture, introducing the G3.5 “inference cache layer,” will completely change the status of solid-state drives (SSDs), transforming them from passive storage to active computation, bringing revolutionary opportunities for Micron Technology.

Micron’s HBM4 completes the transformation from “storing things” to “thinking,” embedding an intelligent base that can handle simple computations itself, solving GPU heating and power consumption issues. Manufacturing HBM4 chips requires three times the raw materials of ordinary memory, and production is difficult. Micron is poised to regain industry-wide pricing power by controlling the output of high-end products. It is predicted that in Q1 2026, ordinary memory prices will surge by 55%-60%, and NAND Flash will rise by 33%-38%.

Furthermore, 2026 will be the inaugural year for the explosion of AI PCs and AI phones, with memory capacity demand doubling (24GB/32GB for phones, 16GB for computers). Micron has released the industry-shaking 3610 SSD, the world’s first drive capable of loading a 20-billion-parameter large model in 3 seconds. With a capacity of up to 4TB and over 40% improvement in performance per watt, it will undoubtedly lead market development.

Of course, the market still has some doubts about the sustainability of Micron’s profitability, given its historically significant cyclical fluctuations. However, the market’s valuation of its 2026 earnings forecast (10.45x) is far lower than that of its peers (AMD 33x, Intel 68x), indicating significant room for recovery, with stock price potential aiming for $500.

III. Key Material Provider for AI Infrastructure: Corning (GLW) – A Brilliant Transformation from Glass to High-Tech Infrastructure

Corning (GLW), renowned for its display glass, is no longer a traditional manufacturing company; it is now a “key material supplier” in AI infrastructure.

Corning’s “Springboard Plan” is projected to achieve net annual revenue growth of $4 billion to $6 billion by the end of 2026, and it already achieved its target of 20% core operating profit margin ahead of schedule in Q4 2025.

With the immense growth in demand for optical fiber from super GPU clusters like NVIDIA’s Blackwell (16 to 36 times that of traditional racks), data transmission also demands increasingly stringent loss requirements. Corning, with its unique Outside Vapor Deposition (OVD) process, has almost monopolized the ultra-low-loss optical fiber market, giving it pricing power and generating approximately $950 million in stable cash flow annually.

This cash flow provides Corning with the strongest foundation for laying out its third growth curve—new energy materials (Hemlock, a domestic solar silicon wafer production line in Michigan), aiming for $2.5 billion in annual revenue by 2028.

At the same time, Apple has pledged a $2.5 billion investment to ensure 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass globally is produced at Corning’s Kentucky factory, continuously driving growth through 2026 and beyond.

Of course, Corning also faces risks such as intense market competition in its traditional glass business and a longer return on investment cycle for its new energy business. However, analysts expect its 2026 EPS CAGR to remain above 17.4%. With the large-scale deployment of the first batch of high-efficiency components, Corning will officially shed its old “glass seller” label, completing its magnificent transformation into an “all-round technology infrastructure provider.”

IV. “Energy Gateway” to the Space Economy: Redwire Corporation (RDW) – Pioneer in Space Manufacturing and Defense

Redwire Corporation (RDW) is a global leader in space infrastructure providers. In the past, Redwire experienced contract delays due to government shutdowns, but today, it is actively transforming and expanding its business scope.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX going public will attract global capital into the aerospace sector, violently boosting the valuation of the entire industry and bringing significant development opportunities for Redwire. The drastic drop in orbital entry costs has made space the “second server center for human civilization,” and electricity is the only rigid demand to sustain all orbital functions.

Redwire’s ROSA flexible solar array technology, with its extremely high power-to-weight ratio and ultra-high in-orbit success rate, has become the default standard for new-generation orbital facilities. Orders have been secured from national-level major clients such as NASA, the European Space Agency, and the U.S. Department of Defense, granting it a service period of up to ten years, thus pre-locking the “energy gateway” to the space economy.

At the same time, Redwire seized a “time difference” opportunity. Due to last year’s government shutdown, approximately $80 million in revenue shifted to 2026. Holding over $350 million in backlog orders, revenue for 2026 is expected to exceed $500 million, an increase of over 70%. Furthermore, Redwire successfully entered the fast-paced, stable-payment defense drone market through the acquisition of Edge Autonomy. Simultaneously, it is deploying automated factories on space stations to achieve mass production of high-precision materials, becoming a source manufacturer in the space high-tech supply chain.

Of course, the long investment cycle of the space industry, rapid technological iteration, and dependence on government contracts for policy are also risks Redwire faces. However, 2026 is expected to be a year where Redwire’s operating leverage is fully unleashed. It will transcend from an infrastructure provider to a source manufacturer in the space high-tech industry chain, and its布局 (layout/strategy) in space manufacturing and defense will bring continuous growth.