Albemarle Corporation · ALB · FY2024 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2024

Albemarle Maintains Outlook Amid Lithium-Price Pressure

The call provides mixed evidence for a durable growth case: demand from EV batteries and grid storage, specialty-chemicals demand, and facility ramps support the long-term opportunity, while lower lithium prices, a large loss, reduced capital spending, workforce cuts, and leverage constraints show that near-term earnings resilience remains unproven.

Reported After market closeNYSEBasic Materials $11.27B market cap
100quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS $-1.55 Consensus $-0.31
EPS surprise -400.0% Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue $1.35B Consensus $1.44B
Revenue surprise -6.1% Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

event-close to next-session close
Stock move +3.5% Event window
SPY move +0.8% Same window
Abnormal move +2.7% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.6× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift +5.0% Up to 20 sessions
ALBSPY benchmark

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Transcript intelligence

What changed

Compared with the prior-quarter analysis, management moved from a broad cost-and-operating-structure review to disclosed execution measures: a $300–$400 million savings target, sharply lower 2025 capital spending, an additional 6–7% workforce reduction, and an extended covenant waiver. The full-year outlook was maintained, but the call also highlighted the scale of lithium-price pressure and balance-sheet constraints.

Guidance delta

Management maintained the full-year 2024 outlook despite a significant Q3 loss and lower lithium prices.

Key takeaways

  • Lower lithium prices drove a 41% year-over-year sales decline and a large GAAP loss in Q3 2024.
  • Management emphasized energy-storage volume growth, specialty-chemicals demand, and new-plant ramps as offsets.
  • The company is pursuing $300–$400 million of cost savings and sharply lower 2025 capital spending.
  • A further 6–7% workforce reduction and an extended covenant waiver underscore the focus on liquidity and flexibility.

Management priorities

  • Advance cost-reduction and productivity programs.
  • Prioritize high-return brownfield expansions and ramp Salar and Magnolia.
  • Continue direct-lithium-extraction pilots and maintain strategic joint-venture partnerships.
  • Protect cash flow while managing lithium-market oversupply and leverage constraints.

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Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
ALB EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 3 future estimate-only quarters. Q4 '23 estimate $0.99 Q4 '23 actual $1.85, beat Q1 '24 estimate $0.25 Q1 '24 actual $0.26, match Q2 '24 estimate $0.53 Q2 '24 actual $0.04, miss Q3 '24 estimate $-0.31 Q3 '24 actual $-1.55, miss Q2 '25 estimate $-0.83 Q2 '25 actual $0.11, beat Q3 '25 estimate $-0.86 Q3 '25 actual $-0.19, beat Q4 '25 estimate $-0.42 Q4 '25 actual $-0.53, miss Q1 '26 estimate $1.19 Q1 '26 actual $2.95, beat Q2 '26 estimate $3.20 Q2 '26 actual $3.75, beat Q3 '26 estimate $2.58 Q4 '26 estimate $3.17 Q1 '27 estimate $2.72
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Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusHold43 ratings
Bullish2148.8%
Neutral1841.9%
Bearish49.3%

1 unmapped firm rating excluded from the percentages.

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$94.64Current
$68Low
$192.17Average
$320High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 20, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
RBC Capital Outperform OutperformMaintainOct 15, 2026
Mizuho Outperform NeutralUpgradeOct 14, 2026
Argus Research Buy BuyMaintainOct 7, 2026
UBS Buy BuyMaintainOct 5, 2026
JP Morgan Neutral NeutralMaintainAug 25, 2026
Show 39 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $94.64. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
RBC CapitalAnalyst unavailable$129$97.75 +36.3%Oct 15, 2026
BarclaysAnalyst unavailable$109$98.51 +15.2%Oct 12, 2026
Argus ResearchAnalyst unavailable$135$104.18 +42.6%Oct 7, 2026
BMO CapitalJoel Jackson$175$106.9 +84.9%Oct 6, 2026
UBSJoshua Spector$150$104.59 +58.5%Oct 5, 2026
See 96 more

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Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Albemarle Corporation stands as a global innovator, producing and distributing a diverse portfolio of engineered specialty chemicals. Its business operations are divided into three principal segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium division supplies a variety of lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, hydroxide, and chloride, alongside critical reagents like butyllithium. These materials are vital for manufacturing lithium-ion batteries found in electric vehicles and consumer electronics, as well as for high-performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers used in tires and plastics, and as catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis in areas like steroid chemistry, vitamins, and the pharmaceutical industry.…

Historical context

All ALB earnings

Basic Materials peers this season

Latest reports in the same sector
CompanyQuarterEPS surpriseMarket moveHeadline
AA Alcoa Corporation FY2026 Q3 · Calendar Q4 2026 +20.5% +7.2% Alcoa: Strong Q3 execution, with safety and transaction risks ahead

Latest beats and misses

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Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2024-11-10T18:38:36.707185+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-19T23:40:43.406631+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-19T23:40:43.403580+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-19. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.