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what it is
Albemarle makes lithium and specialty chemicals used in batteries, plastics, and industrial products.
how it gets paid
Last year Albemarle made $5.1B in revenue. Energy Storage was the main engine at $2.86B, or 56% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 4.4% last year. The $1.88 loss mattered because it missed the -$0.20 estimate by $1.68 a share.
what just happened
Albemarle missed estimates after posting a Q4 loss on $1.43B of revenue.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
5/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
trailing p/e screen is distorted in loss / tiny-earnings years — use forward estimates and filing EPS
1.0% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
6.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 49/100 — below average
What they do
Albemarle makes lithium and specialty chemicals used in batteries, plastics, and industrial products.
Albemarle sells in about 100 countries. That means your supply chain reaches a lot of customers before you ever notice it. Energy Storage was 56% of 2024 sales and 68% of 2024 operating income (profit before interest and taxes). The product card’s ~63% of 2025 operating income is a different year—use the same filing year when you compare revenue mix to profit mix.
How they make money
$5.1B
annual revenue · their business grew -4.4% last year
Energy Storage
$2.86B
Specialties
$1.28B
Ketjen
$0.97B
The products that matter
lithium for battery supply chains
Energy Storage
63% of 2025 operating income
it produced 63% of operating income in 2025. in plain english: when lithium pricing works, this segment carries the company. when it does not, the whole page gets uglier fast.
profit engine
bromine-based specialty chemicals
Specialties
part of the $5.1B revenue base
it is part of the same $5.1B company-wide revenue base and matters because it gives you a business line that is not pure lithium. useful diversification, not a replacement profit engine.
stabilizer
refining and petrochemical catalysts
Catalysts
part of the $5.1B revenue base
this is another piece of the $5.1B revenue base tied to industrial customers rather than battery demand. it helps diversify the story, but it does not change who drives profits.
diversifier
Key numbers
$5.1B
annual revenue
That is the whole top line. With sales this size, a small margin miss can erase a lot of profit.
n/m
trailing p/e
Loss years and tiny GAAP denominators make trailing P/E meaningless—match GAAP vs adjusted and the same period.
-7.1%
operating margin
Negative operating margin → core operations lost money at the operating line in this feed.
$3.2B
long-term debt
Debt is a fixed bill. At this level, weak earnings have less room to hide.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 20 / 100
- long-term debt $3.2B (14% of capital)
- net profit margin n/m — net margin screen conflicts with loss EPS in the same period; use the filing
- return on equity 10% — $0.10 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in ALB 3 years ago → it's now worth $7,280.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
Albemarle missed estimates after posting about -$3.87 Q4 EPS on $1.43B Q4 revenue.
Q4 revenue up 15.9% vs. prior year, but losses continued (e.g. write-downs). Gross margin 12.7%. The -$1.88 figure elsewhere on the page is a different period than Q4 -$3.87—do not merge them.
$1.43B
Q4 revenue
-$3.87
Q4 EPS
12.7%
gross margin
the number that mattered
For the annual-loss framing, -$1.88 vs about -$0.20 expected was the wide miss—pair it with Q4 -$3.87 only when the period matches.
-
since april of last year, albemarle stock has risen substantially.
-
the company is a global leader in lithium production (63% of 2025 operating income).
-
and lithium is in great demand.
-
this is the result of a variety of factors.the main one is surging demand for electric batteries needed to store electricity for the accelerating proliferation of ai data processing centers.
-
this demand is far outstripping what was once huge demand for ev electric batteries.in addition, there is a majority consensus that in 2026, lithium demand will outweigh supply in the western hemisphere due to a lack of manufacturing capacity. china is keeping much of its lithium production at home, in order to supply its own electrification needs. furthermore, ever since the stock price started to drop in 2023, albemarle has been on a cost savings push that is now starting to pay off.
source: Albemarle Q4 & FY2025 results (Feb 2026)
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is lithium price collapse in Energy Storage.
med
lithium prices stay weak longer than the market expects
Energy Storage generated 63% of operating income in 2025. if lithium pricing rolls over again, the diversified chemicals framing stops helping very quickly.
fy2024 already gave you the stress test: EPS went from $13.36 to -$11.20. another deep price slump can push earnings right back into the ditch.
med
cost cuts do not translate into durable margin repair
management started its cost-savings push in 2023, but the latest quarterly margin was still -9.9%. that tells you the price environment can overpower internal fixes.
if costs come down but realized lithium prices do not recover, the EPS rebound to $0.80 stays more model than reality.
med
geopolitical supply disruptions increase volatility instead of helping fundamentals
supply shocks can lift prices, but they can also scramble customer planning and make an already jumpy commodity market even harder to underwrite.
for a stock with 20 / 100 price stability, more volatility is not an abstract risk. it is the operating environment.
med
alternative battery chemistries chip away at the narrative
sodium-ion and other chemistries are not tomorrow's problem, but they are a real threat to the clean, linear demand story investors like to tell themselves.
this matters most over a 5–10 year horizon. if lithium loses some scarcity premium, the recovery multiple should compress with it.
with Energy Storage driving 63% of operating income and full-year EPS swinging to -$11.20, this company is still exposed to one number more than the market wants to admit: lithium pricing.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
trend
lithium pricing and western supply commentary
this is the tape that matters. if 2026 supply stays tight, the recovery case has oxygen. if it loosens, the stock is ahead of itself.
metric
EPS recovery toward $0.80
analysts expect ALB to move from -$11.20 to $0.80. that is a big bridge. the next few quarters need to start building it.
risk
margin repair after a -9.9% quarter
cost cutting only matters if it shows up in reported margins. a business with a 25.5% operating margin profile should not live near negative territory for long.
calendar
whether price targets move or just the stock does
current price is $169 versus a $138 midpoint target. if the stock keeps running without target revisions, sentiment is outrunning fundamentals.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
below average
momentum score 4 — in human-speak, analysts expect below-average price performance from here.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — typical overall risk on paper, even if the earnings line feels anything but typical.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — there is no strong chart signal here, just a stock trying to price the next turn in the cycle.
earnings predictability
5 / 100
earnings predictability is 5 / 100. translation: you should expect sharp surprises, not a smooth glide path.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
387 buyers vs. 325 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.1B shares.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$57
$219
$169
current price
$138
target midpoint · 19% from current · 3-5yr high: $210 (+25% · 7% ann'l return)
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