Albemarle cuts annual forecast on slumping lithium prices
Albemarle, the world's largest producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, trimmed its annual forecast on Wednesday and reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit amid slumping prices for the ultralight metal.
Shares fell 1.9% to $120.67 in after-hours trading.
Worries have been mounting that global EV demand is softening and not keeping pace with aggressive growth targets set by automakers and regulators.
That is reflected in lithium prices, which have tumbled more than 60% this year. Albemarle, which supplies Tesla TSLA.O and other automakers, sells most of its lithium on long-term contracts linked to market pricing.
The company now expects the volume of lithium it sells this year to increase at least 30% from last year's levels, but for prices to increase only 15%, well short of the strong growth Wall Street had come to expect.
Albemarle reported third-quarter net income of $302.5-million, or $2.57 per share, compared to $897.2-million, or $7.61 per share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding one-time items, Albemarle earned $2.74 per share. By that measure, analysts expected earnings of $3.99 per share, according to IBES data from LSEG.
For the year, the company trimmed its net sales forecast to a range of $9.5-billion to $9.8-billion. Albemarle previously expected $10.4-billion to $11.5-billion.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company plans to hold a conference call with investors on Thursday to discuss the results.
Albemarle this month abandoned its $4.2-billion bid for Australian lithium developer Liontown Resources, citing "growing complexities." Hancock Prospecting, an iron-ore miner controlled by Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person, controls more than 19% of Liontown's shares.
Rival Livent posted a drop in quarterly profit on Tuesday, citing expansion delays at a key Argentina project.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
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?
Receive 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)
➕
Recieve 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
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation