Can ALB's Cash Strength Power Bigger Shareholder Returns Ahead?

Albemarle Corporation ALB remains committed to driving shareholder value by leveraging solid liquidity and healthy cash flows. At the end of the third quarter of 2025, ALB had liquidity of around $3.5 billion, including cash and cash equivalents of around $1.9 billion. Its operating cash flow was roughly $893.8 million for the first nine months of 2025, up 29% from the prior-year period. 

ALB expects free cash flow of $300-$400 million in 2025, driven by strong cash conversion, lower capital spending and productivity measures. Its ability to convert improving operating performance into free cash is likely to result in incremental returns to shareholders. 

The company remains focused on maintaining its dividend payout. It has raised its quarterly dividend for the 30th straight year and offers a dividend yield of 1.3% at the current stock price. Backed by healthy cash flows and sound financial health, ALB's dividend is perceived to be safe and reliable.

Among its peers, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. SQM exited the third quarter with strong liquidity, cash and cash equivalents being around $1.5 billion. Sociedad Quimica’s solid cash position supports its capital investment in growth projects and shareholder-friendly actions. Sociedad Quimica projects total capital expenditure of $2.7 billion for the 2025–2027 period, which includes the expansion of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide capacity in Chile, the expansion of the Mt. Holland project and investments to develop the Andover project, both in Australia. 

ICL Group Ltd.’s ICL cash resources totaled roughly $1.55 billion as of Sept. 30, 2025. ICL Group’s operating cash flow was $308 million in the third quarter and $742 million for the first nine months of this year. In terms of shareholder returns, ICL Group declared a quarterly dividend of roughly $62 million, equating to 50% of its third-quarter adjusted net income.

ALB’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Albemarle has gained 47.6% year to date compared with the Zacks Chemical - Diversified industry’s decline of 25.6%.

ALB is currently trading at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 2.95, well above the industry. It carries a Value Score of D.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALB’s 2025 earnings implies a year-over-year rise of 48.3%. The EPS estimates for 2025 have been trending higher over the past 60 days.

ALB stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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