Albemarle to Post Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing for the Stock?

Albemarle Corporation ALB is slated to release fourth-quarter 2025 results after the closing bell on Feb. 11.

Albemarle beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 35.3%, on average. It posted an earnings surprise of 79.4% in the last reported quarter. ALB is likely to have benefited from its cost and productivity actions, higher volumes in its lithium business and a recovery in prices in the fourth quarter.

ALB’s shares have popped 113.5% over the past year compared with the Zacks Chemicals Diversified industry’s 17.4% decline.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

What Our Model Unveils for ALB Stock

Our proven model predicts an earnings beat for Albemarle this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP  and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat.

Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP for ALB is +70.92%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is currently pegged at a loss of 52 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: ALB currently carries a Zacks Rank #1.

What Do ALB’s Revenue Estimates Say?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues for Albemarle for the to-be-reported quarter stands at $1,349.8 million, reflecting a rise of around 9.6% from the year-ago quarter.

The consensus estimate for net sales for the Energy Storage unit for the fourth quarter is pegged at $716.9 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 16.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for net sales for the Specialties unit is pinned at $348.7 million, suggesting a year-over-year rise of 4.7%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for net sales for the Ketjen unit stands at $296.4 million, indicating a 5.1% year-over-year rise.

Factors to Watch for ALB Stock

ALB is expected to have gained from higher lithium volumes and improved prices in the December quarter. Healthy customer demand, capacity expansion and plant productivity improvements are expected to have supported volumes. 

Higher lithium prices driven by strong demand from electric vehicles and energy storage systems, along with supply disruptions, are also likely to have aided its performance. Lithium prices have rebounded from trough levels, supported by tightening supply and strong demand. Higher volumes and prices are expected to have driven sales in the company’s Energy Storage segment in the quarter to be reported.

Cost-saving, pricing and productivity initiatives are also expected to have aided ALB’s performance in the fourth quarter. Its cost and productivity actions are expected to have supported margins in the quarter. Efforts to drive operating efficiency and improve the utilization of raw materials are likely to have aided the company’s results.

Albemarle is taking actions to cut costs, optimize its conversion network and increase efficiencies to preserve its long-term competitive position. The company expects to deliver roughly $450 million in cost and productivity improvements for full-year 2025, having surpassed its initial target of $300-$400 million.   

Albemarle Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Albemarle Corporation price-eps-surprise | Albemarle Corporation Quote

Basic Materials Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some companies in the basic materials space you may want to consider as our model shows they too have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited AEM, scheduled to release earnings on Feb. 12, has an Earnings ESP of +12.76% and carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The consensus estimate for AEM’s earnings for the fourth quarter is currently pegged at $2.38.

Kinross Gold Corporation KGC, slated to release earnings on Feb. 18, has an Earnings ESP of +3.72%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KGC's earnings for the fourth quarter is currently pegged at 56 cents. KGC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. 

Newmont Corporation NEM, scheduled to release earnings on Feb. 19, has an Earnings ESP of +14.61% and carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

The consensus mark for NEM’s fourth-quarter earnings is currently pegged at $1.78.

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

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