Travis Miller is an Energy and Utilities Strategist for Morningstar, Inc. Prior to joining Morningstar in 2007, Mr. Miller worked as a reporter at several Chicago-area newspapers, including the Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, Illinois. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with concentrations in accounting and finance.
In this 2,326 word interview, exclusively in the Wall Street Transcript, Mr. Miller sees some investment upside to US energy generation:
“There are two ways that investors can play the battery trend development. The first way is through upstream investment. That would be investing directly in the material stocks that produce the lithium, process the lithium and refine it into a battery-level type of material.
Morningstar has a top pick here called Albemarle (NYSE:ALB). It is one of the largest lithium producers. Our analyst has a 5-star, strong “buy” rating on them right now. It is the world’s largest lithium producer. Lithium represents about half of its total profits.
It has mines in primarily Chile and Australia. In Chile, it has the world’s lowest-cost lithium mine source. If lithium-ion becomes the technology that goes into the utility scale batteries, then certainly it would be a leader in that upstream area of electric vehicle battery demand.
The other way is to play the downstream investments in batteries, and that would be with utilities. Utilities are going to invest billions of dollars in battery storage over the next few years and multiples of that over the next 10 and 20 years.
All of that investment, if it receives regulatory support, will be a source of earnings growth for utilities. AES, in particular, has a joint venture with Siemens (OTCMKTS:SIEGY) to develop battery storage, and I would expect they’re going to be the leader out of the blocks on battery investment in the U.S.”
The country as a whole has a chance to make energy independence based on renewable sources:
“Solar alone will never supply 100%. But when you combine solar with wind, with batteries and with some other noncarbon or renewable energy sources, then I do think you can get to 100%.
Solar already is at the top of the investment list for nearly all investors, from utilities to corporates, who want to expand their renewable energy profiles. Most of the market agrees that solar is the accepted choice for incremental renewable energy. It will only grow over the next decade as utilities and energy companies try to meet the demands from policymakers and corporates.”
Get the full 2,326 word interview, along with more stock picks from this Morningstar equity analyst, only in the Wall Street Transcript.
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