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2015 All-America Research Team: Alternative Energy, No. 3: Brian Lee
In third place is Goldman, Sachs & Co. researcher Brian Lee, who debuted on this roster last year at No. 2.
Total appearances: 2
Analyst debut: 2014
In third place is Goldman, Sachs & Co. researcherBrian Lee, who debuted on this roster last year at No. 2. He is hailed by one money manager for “writing concise reports and being very accessible whenever I have questions.” Lee, 35, affirms that he is positive on the U.S. solar subsector. “Demand continues to exceed expectations,” he says, “and we estimate global solar growth to exceed 25 percent year-over-year in 2015, in part driven by increasing penetration in the U.S. market, which should overtake Japan as the No. 2 market globally this year.” The key drivers of that expansion include continued cost declines, broader access to lower-cost capital and an evolving U.S. business model that is easing the barriers to adoption, he adds. SolarCity Corp., based in San Mateo, California, is Lee’s top pick. The electricity provider is “levered to what we believe is the highest-growth, highest-returns vertical within the solar energy landscape, residential solar,” which still has only 1 percent penetration in the U.S., he explains. In addition, the analyst estimates that the all-in costs it will achieve by 2017 will give the company a lower cost structure versus its similarly scaled peers, enabling SolarCity to “drive higher returns and grow market share.” The shares closed at $48.09 in mid-September, and Lee forecasts a rise to $85.