What You Need to Know About Investing in Graphene

In my note on Wednesday, I remarked how many of you have lots of questions about investing in exotics, particularly the "miracle material" graphene.

Turns out you aren't the only ones who want to know more about this exciting new field. My good friend and colleague, William Patalon III, decided to interview me for his excellent advisory service, Private Briefing.

Since this is becoming such a popular topic for investors these days, I thought I would share the full interview with you today. It's a comprehensive look at the forces driving this sector.

And it contains some background material about me that you probably don't already know.

Here's the Private Briefing interview. I hope you enjoy it...

Investing in Graphene

Patalon (Q): Michael ... during a recent discussion, you told me that we are entering the "Golden Age of Materials Science." What did you mean by that and what will this mean for investors? How long will it last?

Robinson (A): What I mean by that is that we haven't seen such an intense, specialized focus on new materials in many, many years. Here's the thing. We simply cannot get to the next level in a tech-oriented world without having the new materials to help us do so. And I'm talking about new materials of all kinds, novel compounds, tweaked molecules, special polymers and more. I recently had a three-hour dinner with a biotech CEO and we talked about why I think this is the Golden Age of Materials Sciences. I related that I am currently reading about hundreds of breakthroughs a month ... taking place all over the world ... and said that I'm struck by how many of these teams now include materials scientists as standard procedure. And he agreed.Remember, your smartphone is an amalgamation of materials of all kinds ... of rare earths ... of gold, silver, plastic, specialty polymers, specialty glass and more.

As I see it, this period will last for at least the next 20 years. If you're an investor, there will be lots of major breakthroughs that you can make money on ... and I'm talking windfall profits ... because the materials guys will keep finding new ways to push the tech boundaries forward. Remember, the world at this point runs very much on silicon. Graphene is important because it's a new, key milestone that is giving the materials guys new territory to explore ... by taking the discovery itself and finding all sorts of new applications. The whole field of nanotech is itself pushing materials science forward ... like carbon nanotubes and Nano gold that works great for medicine.

(Q): You were one of the first investment columnists to see the great potential in graphene. When was that and how did you manage to be so far ahead of the crowd on that great call?

Robinson (A): As I said, I have been interested in materials for some time. I first got interested in the summer of 1977 when I was working for (Congressman) Jack Kemp as a legislative intern. I commuted with my dad who used to tell me all about Star Wars and exotic materials that were then getting a lot of attention. That interest intensified in the late 1980s when I was writing about President Reagan's Star Wars program for a newsletter my father had for a time. Space-based lasers, charged-particle weapons and the like needed new materials - as did the detectors and other military gadgets created for the program. So I went to labs and talked to scientists about things like gallium arsenide and other materials used for a wide range of new tech applications.

A turning point that put me on the path toward graphene occurred in late 2009 when I attended a metals conference in San Francisco. It was there that I latched onto the investment potential for rare earths. Again, I had followed that field as it related to military high tech, but not yet for its investment potential

(Q): What made you see the profit potential for graphene?

Robinson (A): I remembered reading about the Nobel Prize that was awarded for graphene and being fascinated by it. Thanks to my years of researching high-tech materials, I very quickly realized this substance had an immense potential. The more I researched, the more I became convinced that this was a material with the potential to change basically any industry you could think of.

About that same time, I had a long conversation with my father-in-law about this miracle material. He had a doctorate in chemistry and did cold-temperature physics research at the University of California at Berkeley for 40 years. He told me that the materials scientists and related experts around the world were getting heavily involved in the field. See, the two guys who discovered graphene won the Nobel in only seven years, which is almost unheard of. That, my father-in-law told me, really got the whole field extremely excited about researching the many possible new uses for this unusual substance.

(Q): As you said in a recent column it's as if we're watching the birth of a brand-new industry.

Robinson (A): That's right, Bill. And as exciting as graphene is for scientists and researchers, it's even more intriguing for investors. I mean, how often to you really get the chance to be there when a new business begins? I'm not trying to be overly dramatic here ... but what if you could go back in time ... to Titusville, Pennsylvania, in August 1859 ... to see the first oil strike ... or in (Alexander) Graham Bell's lab in March 1876 ... to see the telephone work for the first time.

(Q): So just what is it that's so special about graphene? You said it would benefit multiple sectors ... is there one sector in particular that you think graphene will benefit the most?

Robinson (A): It's special because it is just one atom thick and occurs in a hexagonal pattern, kind of like chicken wire, but one heck of a lot more valuable. In layman's terms, it's the strongest and lightest material known to man.

As for what sectors it will benefit, I'd start with electronics ... but only after some hurdles are overcome. The big one is getting graphene to conduct electricity: Right now, electrons don't flow as smoothly as they should. But hang-ups like that are to be expected in something so new. Now the materials guys and the electrical engineers are attacking that problem at a feverish pace, because graphene could be used for everything from capacitors to a new type of semiconductors.

And that's just the start. I've said here - and I know that I've told you in our many discussions about this - that there probably isn't an industry you can think of that won't somehow be influenced by graphene. This stuff is so unique, bendable, flexible and incredibly strong that the only thing constraining its use will be the imaginations of the researchers who are trying to discover the new applications.

Graphene is lighter than a feather, but 200 times stronger than steel. I know you're a big airplane nut, Bill ... can you just image the fuel savings you could have by using this in aircraft to make parts of seats, panels, wing reinforcement, struts and more?

And how about medicine? There's a researcher at Wayne State who wants to use graphene for neural implants that would last much longer and be more benign than anything they have now.

(Q): You said during our discussion that we're in the very earliest stages of graphene-related investing. Do you see a proliferation in graphene-related investments?

Robinson (A): I do - both direct and indirect. Now, I want to emphasize that it is still early. No "pure play" investments exist for graphene. But don't be deterred. There are some indirect plays right now. And more profit opportunities - direct and indirect - will emerge. You'll no doubt even find some ETFs that hold graphene-related investments as this new business burgeons.

That said, there as one indirect play I've been looking at.

With the shares trading below $1.00 each, it goes without saying that this is a highly speculative play - a penny stock. It will be volatile, and could experience big swings. In fact, I would count on that.

(Q): Here at Private Briefing, we typically tell folks to cap their investment in such a stock to no more than 1% of their holdings. That will allow for a wider-than-usual "trailing stop." But it also caps their maximum loss at about one half of 1% of their total holdings.

Robinson (A): They should embrace the same mindset for this European play ... Flinders Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: FDR/ OTC: FLNXF). Flinders was founded by two of the world's top rare-earths experts. The venture has both mining and materials down cold.

(Q): What about ETFs?

Robinson (A): There are none that play graphene. But there are several that stand to gain from the "Golden Age of Materials Science" that I often refer to. Industry insiders refer to them as "exotics" ... for "exotic materials."

You can do this by investing in one, or all, of three exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that focus on the materials sector. These three provide a good exposure to chemical firms, as well as to other resources, such as metals.

The ETFs are the Vanguard Materials ETF (NYSEArca: VAW), the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials ETF (NYSEArca: IYM) and the Materials Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLB).

(Q): Thanks, Michael.

[Editor's Note: It doesn't matter what's "hot" in investing, nobody is better equipped to than Michael to deliver "home run" gains in the tech sector. And now for a limited time, you can get immediate full access to his Radical Technology Profits model portfolio for just $99. But that's only a small part of this story. The same deal includes a "test drive" all of our premium services but one. That's $27,500 in research, for just $99! You can go here for the details]

Related Articles and News:

[epom]

About the Author

Michael A. Robinson is a 36-year Silicon Valley veteran and one of the top tech and biotech financial analysts working today. That's because, as a consultant, senior adviser, and board member for Silicon Valley venture capital firms, Michael enjoys privileged access to pioneering CEOs, scientists, and high-profile players. And he brings this entire world of Silicon Valley "insiders" right to you...

  • He was one of five people involved in early meetings for the $160 billion "cloud" computing phenomenon.
  • He was there as Lee Iacocca and Roger Smith, the CEOs of Chrysler and GM, led the robotics revolution that saved the U.S. automotive industry.
  • As cyber-security was becoming a focus of national security, Michael was with Dave DeWalt, the CEO of McAfee, right before Intel acquired his company for $7.8 billion.

This all means the entire world is constantly seeking Michael's insight.

In addition to being a regular guest and panelist on CNBC and Fox Business, he is also a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter. His first book Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings warned people about the coming financial collapse - years before the word "bailout" became a household word.

Silicon Valley defense publications vie for his analysis. He's worked for Defense Media Network and Signal Magazine, as well as The New York Times, American Enterprise, and The Wall Street Journal.

And even with decades of experience, Michael believes there has never been a moment in time quite like this.

Right now, medical breakthroughs that once took years to develop are moving at a record speed. And that means we are going to see highly lucrative biotech investment opportunities come in fast and furious.

To help you navigate the historic opportunity in biotech, Michael launched the Bio-Tech Profit Alliance.

His other publications include: Strategic Tech Investor, The Nova-X Report, Bio-Technology Profit Alliance and Nexus-9 Network.

Read full bio