What happened
Shares of start-up lithium miner Lithium Americas (LAC) climbed a strong 15% in 2:57 p.m. EDT trading Friday, continuing a run that's seen the stock literally double since last month's post-Tesla Battery Day collapse.
Curiously, there's nothing new to explain today's rise.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
No press releases from Lithium Americas. No analysts upgrading it. Nothing.
In fact, the only real news we've seen that even touches on the company recently was a report earlier this week on a study out of a couple of foreign universities that you've probably never heard of before. The study predicted that, within just 30 years, every car on every road in the world will be an electric car requiring lithium for its batteries. Oh, and it also warned that global lithium supplies are barely half what we thought they were.
Now what
Of course, I can't imagine a report better calculated to double the stock price of a lithium mining stock. Still, a few words of caution are in order here.
The study in question makes some pie-in-the-sky predictions that may or may not bear fruit. In any case, they're not expected to bear fruit for another 30 years. And even if the predictions do ultimately prove correct, there's no guarantee that Lithium Americas, a stock with no profits and no revenue today, will still be around three decades from now to reap the benefits.
Until this company proves itself capable of earning a profit, Lithium Americas stock remains a speculative bet.
