What happened
Charging up investors' beliefs that the company will thrive in the coming years, Albemarle (ALB 1.71%) provided an auspicious business update on Wednesday. But that wasn't the only catalyst for the lithium stock's recent rise. Several analysts on Wall Street waxed bullish about the stock's prospects, motivating those on Main Street to click the buy button.
As of 10:49 a.m. ET today, shares of Albemarle had risen 12.1% since last Friday, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
Management provided multiple figures to suggest Albemarle is poised for significant growth, using preliminary numbers for 2022. With revenue, for example, it forecasts growth from $7.3 billion in 2022 to between $17.6 billion and $19.3 billion in 2027.
For profits, management projects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) will rise from about $3.5 billion in 2022 to between $7.2 billion and $8.4 billion in five years.
And based on estimated 2022 operational cash flow of $300 million, management projects Albemarle will generate cash from operations of $6.6 billion to $7.1 billion in 2027.
The optimistic five-year outlook inspired several analysts to raise their price targets on the stock, according to Thefly.com.
- Mizuho analyst Christopher Parkinson hiked his price target to $325 from $300.
- David Begleiter, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, raised his price target to $305 from $290.
- Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch lifted his price target to $497 from $461.
Now what
It's little surprise that shares of Albemarle are flying higher this week considering management's promising view of the next five years. Investors looking to power their portfolios with this leader in lithium production will want to check the fourth-quarter 2022 earnings report in February to see if the preliminary results stated in the business update are consistent with what the company actually reports.
