How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Albemarle (ALB) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to ALB for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Albemarle's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Albemarle's main business drivers.
Charlotte, NC-based Albemarle Corporation is a premier specialty chemicals company with leading positions in attractive end markets globally. It is a leading producer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals geared to meet customer requirements across a bevy of end markets including petroleum refining, consumer electronics, energy storage, construction and automotive.
Albemarle, in January 2015, completed its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings, Inc for $5.7 billion. Rockwood became a fully-owned subsidiary of Albemarle following the deal closure. The Rockwood acquisition has brought together two leading specialty chemicals makers with strong market positions and complimentary product portfolios.
Albemarle, in April 2018, completed the sale of its polyolefin catalysts and components business to W. R. Grace & Co. (GRA). Per the terms of the deal, the curatives and organometallics portions of the Performance Catalysts Solutions (PCS) business remain with Albemarle.
Effective Jan 1, 2023, the company realigned its segments into two core global business units — Albemarle Energy Storage and Albemarle Specialties.
The new Albemarle Energy Storage unit includes the hydroxide, carbonate, battery grade metal, and advanced energy storage businesses in the former Lithium business. The unit focuses on the lithium-ion battery evolution and the transition to clean energy. The Albemarle Specialties unit combines the earlier Bromine business with the Lithium specialties business and focuses on the company's bromine and highly specialized lithium solutions.
The company reports through three new segments — Energy storage, Specialties and Ketjen (the new brand name of the catalysts business) starting first-quarter 2023. It earlier had three reportable segments — Lithium, Bromine Specialties and Catalysts.
Albemarle recorded sales of around $5.4 billion in 2024 with Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen segments accounting for 56%, 25% and 19%, respectively.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Albemarle a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in January 2016 would be worth $3,707.40, or a gain of 270.74%, as of January 14, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
The S&P 500 rose 268.40% and the price of gold increased 309.27% over the same time frame in comparison.
Analysts are anticipating more upside for ALB.
Earnings estimates for Albemarle for the fourth quarter have been going up over the past month. The company should gain from long-term growth in the battery-grade lithium market. It is expected to benefit from its actions to boost its global lithium derivative capacity to tap the significant growth opportunity. Demand for lithium is expected to rise on significant global electric vehicle (EV) penetration. It remains focused on investing in high-return projects to drive productivity. Healthy customer demand, capacity expansion and plant productivity improvements are supporting its volumes. Albemarle's cost-saving actions are expected to support margins. It is taking actions to maintain its competitive position. The company has already surpassed its initial cost-saving target for 2025.
The stock has jumped 34.95% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2025; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Albemarle Corporation (ALB): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
Zacks Investment Research
