Charlotte, North Carolina-based Albemarle Corporation (ALB) develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals for mobility, energy, connectivity, and health solutions. With a market cap of $9.6 billion, the company offers critical ingredients used in grid storage, automotive, aerospace, conventional energy, electronics, construction, agriculture and food, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.
Companies worth $2 billion or more are generally described as “mid-cap stocks,” and ALB perfectly fits that description, with its market cap exceeding this mark, underscoring its size, influence, and dominance within the specialty chemicals industry. Albemarle's diversified portfolio is a strength, with its leadership in lithium, bromine specialties, and catalysts providing resilience and cross-selling opportunities, while vertical integration in lithium shields it from raw material price volatility.
Despite its notable strength, ALB shares slipped 29.4% from their 52-week high of $113.91, achieved on Dec. 9, 2024. Over the past three months, ALB stock has gained 41.9%, considerably outperforming the Nasdaq Composite’s ($NASX) 17.2% gains during the same time frame.
In the longer term, shares of ALB dipped 6.6% both on a YTD basis and over the past 52 weeks, underperforming NASX’s YTD gains of 18% and 27% returns over the last year.
To confirm the bullish trend, ALB has been trading above its 200-day moving average since mid-August, with minor fluctuations. The stock is trading above its 50-day moving average since early June, with slight fluctuations.
Albemarle's underperformance stems from the lithium market downturn, which has squeezed margins and forced the company to cut jobs and scrap projects, including a major U.S. refinery.
On Jul. 30, ALB shares closed down by 3.8% after reporting its Q2 results. Its adjusted EPS of $0.11 beat Wall Street expectations of an adjusted loss of $0.83 per share. The company’s revenue was $1.3 billion, beating Wall Street forecasts of $1.2 billion.
ALB’s rival, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM), has outpaced the stock with 19.1% gains on a YTD basis and a 17.4% uptick over the past 52 weeks.
Wall Street analysts are cautious on ALB’s prospects. The stock has a consensus “Hold” rating from the 25 analysts covering it, and the mean price target of $83.22 suggests a potential upside of 3.5% from current price levels.
