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US chemicals company mining and processing lithium for batteries, plus bromine specialties and refining catalysts.
US chemicals company mining and processing lithium for batteries, plus bromine specialties and refining catalysts.
Lithium is the swing factor in earnings: part of it is sold under contracts linked to market indexes and part at set prices, so price moves reach earnings with a lag. Brine pumped in Chile and a stake in Australia's Greenbushes mine supply the lithium, and bromine and catalysts give steadier, non-battery income.
Moat: narrow (scale, installed base, process know-how). One of the largest lithium producers globally with long-life resources, but lithium is a cyclical, price-taking commodity.
Headquarters: Charlotte, North Carolina, US · Founded: 1994 · Employees: 7,800
Size Albemarle (ALB) is a United States Materials company (Chemicals: Specialty) with a market value of $11.7B, the 705th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $99.25 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 51.1%, against -21.0% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 4th lowest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 18.3% over the last twelve months (peer median +0.9%); the operating margin is 14.1% (peer median 10.9%).
Valuation It trades at 11.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.6× (9th cheapest of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 11% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +10%, so the hurdle is +0 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 5.4 points below its cost of capital (10.7% WACC).
Credit Albemarle has 6 bonds outstanding ($1.48B), rated BBB- by the agencies and trading like BBB- at a weighted spread of 118 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 10.4% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 17 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.91B | $5.14B | $5.38B | $9.62B | $7.32B |
| Revenue growth | — | -4% | -44% | +31% | — |
| Gross profit | $1.41B | $672M | $60.2M | $1.20B | $3.09B |
| EBITDA | $1.48B | $754M | -$45.1M | $671M | $2.80B |
| Net income | $224M | -$511M | -$1.18B | $1.57B | $2.69B |
| Free cash flow | $1.34B | $692M | -$993M | -$824M | $646M |
| Capital expenditure | $458M | $590M | $1.68B | $2.15B | $1.26B |
| Total debt | $2.00B | $3.32B | $3.65B | $4.31B | $3.35B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albemarle ALB | $11.7B | -51% | +18% | 14% | 11.3× | 10.9% |
| Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B SQM | $16.0B | -37% | +59% | 39% | 7.3× | -4.8% |
| Ganfeng Lithium 1772.HK | $9.76B | -72% | +123% | 18% | 6.4× | 9.0% |
| Tianqi Lithium 9696.HK | $8.79B | -64% | +116% | 57% | 5.0× | -10.8% |
| Rio Tinto RIO.L | $144B | -21% | +11% | 27% | 10.3× | 5.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | ALB | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -2.8% | -0.6% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -51.1% | -21.0% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -55.0% | -39.9% | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +18.3% | +0.9% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 14.1% | 10.9% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 11.3× | 14.6× | 9th cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 10.9% | 7.8% | 5th most demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +10.4% | +10.7% | 8th lowest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +0.5 pp | -12.0 pp | 7th most demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -5.4 pp | -0.9 pp | 6th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 9.8× | 9.8× | 6th cheapest of 11 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2× | 2.6× | 3rd least indebted of 13 |
| Bond spread | 118 bp | 102 bp | 3rd widest of 7 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albemarle ALB | United States | $11.7B | -51% | +18% | 14% | 11.3× | 10.9% | +10.4% |
| Formosa Plastics 1301.TW | Taiwan | $12.1B | +22% | -11% | -2% | 21.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Satellite Chemical 002648.SZ | China | $12.4B | -17% | +20% | 23% | 7.2× | -13.2% | +33.8% |
| Formosa Chemicals & Fibre 1326.TW | Taiwan | $11.1B | +21% | -5% | 1% | 21.0× | 26.2% | +2.5% |
| Resonac 4004.T | Japan | $12.6B | -26% | +1% | 8% | 18.0× | 26.7% | +6.7% |
| Swancor Advanced Materials 688585.SS | China | $10.9B | +50% | +3% | -25% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Lgchem 051910.KS | South Korea | $12.6B | -42% | 0% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Zhejiang Juhua 600160.SS | China | $13.1B | -12% | -5% | 20% | 18.2× | n/a | n/a |
| Covestro 1COV.DE | Germany | $14.0B | 0% | -9% | -3% | 200.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Ganfeng Lithium 1772.HK | Hong Kong | $9.76B | -72% | +123% | 18% | 6.4× | 9.0% | +32.0% |
| Symrise SY1.DE | Germany | $15.1B | +30% | -1% | 12% | 24.8× | 8.1% | +7.0% |
| Tianqi Lithium 002466.SZ | China | $8.97B | -54% | +104% | 57% | 9.0× | -1.2% | +26.2% |
| Nippon Sanso 4091.T | Japan | $15.3B | +1% | +10% | 15% | 16.9× | 7.8% | +10.7% |
| Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology 002709.SZ | China | $8.73B | -53% | +102% | 19% | 10.3× | 9.3% | +32.3% |
| Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. Sponsored ADR Pfd Series B SQM | United States | $16.0B | -37% | +59% | 39% | 7.3× | -4.8% | +20.1% |
| Shandong Hualu-Hengsheng Chemical 600426.SS | China | $8.27B | -32% | +3% | 16% | 12.3× | -2.5% | +18.7% |
| Westlake WLK | United States | $8.11B | -32% | 0% | 1% | 38.6× | 37.4% | +8.3% |
| Hengli Petrochemical 600346.SS | China | $17.5B | -25% | -8% | 8% | 9.2× | -8.0% | +5.1% |
| Eastman Chemical EMN | United States | $7.37B | -13% | 0% | 10% | 10.2× | 5.1% | +0.7% |
| China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech 600111.SS | China | $19.6B | -31% | +29% | 11% | 28.5× | 24.6% | +14.2% |
| LyondellBasell LYB | United States | $19.6B | -15% | -2% | 10% | 9.5× | -10.3% | +1.7% |
Albemarle has 6 bonds outstanding with $1.48B face value. The agencies rate it BBB-; its bonds trade like BBB-. Weighted yield 5.34%, a spread of 118 bp over government bonds.