Albemarle profit beats expectations on rising lithium demand

6th May 2021

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

Albemarle, the world's largest producer of lithium, posted a quarterly profit on Wednesday that easily beat Wall Street's expectations on rising demand from the electric vehicle industry.

The company reported first-quarter net income of $95.7-million, or 84c a share, compared with $107.2-million, or $1.01 c share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding one-time items, Albemarle earned $1.10 c share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of 80c a share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Shares of the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company have nearly tripled in the past year, closing on Wednesday at $167.15, up 3.1% on the day. The stock was flat in after-hours trading.

Albemarle said the outlook for lithium sales has improved since 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the company to pause expansions and production in some regions. Prices for the white metal should improve for the rest of the year, the company forecast.

Albemarle is in the final stages of two projects to boost its lithium processing and expects to approve further expansion projects by June.

Weakness in Albemarle's division that supplies crude oil refineries offset the surge in sales of lithium during the quarter.

Albemarle plans to discuss the quarterly results on a call with investors on Thursday morning.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION