Al Root
Shares of lithium miner Albemarle rose again ahead of the open Wednesday, as Wall Street analysts believe rising demand can boost lithium prices and Albemarle's earnings.
Albemarle stock was up 1.7% at $160.95 in premarket trading, while S&P 500 futures were flat and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.1%.
The move came after Baird analyst Ben Kallo upgraded Albemarle stock to Buy from Hold and raised his price target to $210 a share from $113.
"We are incrementally positive given the recent increase in lithium prices...and our view that demand strength stemming from stationary [energy] storage will continue to propel Albemarle higher," he wrote in a Wednesday report.
He raised his 2026 earnings per share estimate to $1.26, up from a loss of 44 cents. Albemarle earned about $22 a share in 2022, when lithium prices were much higher.
Benchmark lithium prices peaked at about $84,000 per metric ton in late 2022, boosted by rising demand from electric vehicles. But lithium production expanded, and EV demand growth slowed, which pushed lithium prices below $9,000 per ton. Now, rising demand for utility-scale battery storage applications has pushed lithium prices higher, at about $18,000 a ton recently.
Albemarle stock might be up more after the upgrade if not for its starting point. Higher commodity prices have been a boon to the shares. Coming into Wednesday trading, shares were up about 75% over the past three months.
Shares jumped 8.2% on Tuesday after Jefferies analyst Laurence Alexander raised his price target for Albemarle stock to $167 from $152, while reiterating his Buy rating. He cited robots and energy storage as reasons to remain invested in shares.
" Autonomous robots likely amplify stationary storage, accelerate EV adoption," Alexander wrote. His point: all the machines, such as robots, now being trained by artificial intelligence, need lithium-ion batteries, creating more demand for lithium. What's more, AI computers that train the machines need power, boosting battery storage businesses.
With the upgrade, 39% of analysts covering Albemarle rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. But the Buy-rating ratio for Albemarle was about 30% a few months ago.
The average analyst price target for Albemarle stock has risen to about $135 a share from $78 a share over that span.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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January 07, 2026 07:46 ET (12:46 GMT)
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