Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, I would like to have your thoughts on this stock: Albemarle (ALB). Many thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Albemarle Corp., $64.53, symbol ALB on New York (Shares outstanding: 106.0 million; Market cap: $6.9 billion; www.albemarle.com), is a global specialty chemicals company with three main businesses: Lithium, Bromine Specialties, and Refining Catalysts. The end markets it serves include petroleum refining, consumer electronics, energy storage, construction, automotive, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food safety and custom chemistry services. The company’s primary growth area is its lithium business, and it’s the world’s biggest lithium producer. It develops and manufactures a broad range of basic lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and value-added lithium specialties and reagents (used to analyze chemicals). Those include butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride. The lithium unit (contributing around 37% of overall sales) is tied to lithium demand and prices. That chemical is needed by the makers of electric car batteries, electric grid and power storage entities, and the makers of smartphones, portable electronic devices and lubricants. Albemarle’s revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2019, rose 3.7%,…