'Once-in-a-lifetime' opportunity: Morgan Stanley's stocks to trade Europe's renewable energy boom

Published Mon, Aug 7 20237:43 PM EDT

Lucy Handley @in/lucy-handley-b2b0a61a/@lucyhandley

Morgan Stanley named several stocks to play Europe's investment in renewable energy — and highlighted a "once-in-a lifetime" opportunity in the electricity sector in particular. Earlier this year, the European Union raised its renewable energy targets in the face of the energy crisis that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The bank estimated the transition to green power sources will cost around 5 trillion euros ($5.5 trillion) between now and 2030. "1.6 trillion [euros] is already earmarked in EU programmes and budget. The remainder, 3.4 trillion [euros], needs to come from national governments and the private sector," Morgan Stanley's analysts led by economist Jens Eisenschmidt wrote in a July 30 research note. The bank said the stocks set to benefit are largely in utilities, including electricity companies, product manufacturers and firms involved in gas-fired power. "The electricity network required to connect new sources of clean energy to areas of demand as well as prepare [the] distribution system for widespread electrification creates a once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure growth opportunity,". When it comes to electricity, the bank is overweight on British firms SSE and National Grid . Growth opportunity "The EU and UK renewables targets imply significant growth investment opportunities for renewable developers," the bank said. It is overweight on stocks including German company RWE , Danish firm Orsted and French business Engie . The bank also likes suppliers to the electricity industry, such as Siemens Energy , which makes goods including wind turbines, and Prysmian , a cable manufacturer. While the transition to cleaner energy is underway, the EU will continue to rely on gas-fired power to an extent, the bank said. "We continue to see a demand for gas-fired power to balance a power system more dependent on weather-related intermittent sources of electricity: We therefore see a 'rising value of flexibility'," Morgan Stanley stated. British Gas owner Centrica is likely to benefit "for longer than the market currently envisages," it added. In March, the EU announced plans to source 42.5% of the bloc's energy from renewable sources by the end of the decade, up from a previous target of 32%. Though Morgan Stanley is positive on the opportunities for renewable energy companies, it said the EU's targets would be "hard to achieve." — CNBC's Michael Bloom and Sam Meredith contributed to this report.