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Albemarle (ALB) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Albemarle (ALB - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $233.67, moving -0.66% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.08% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.56%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.42%.

Heading into today, shares of the specialty chemicals company had gained 1.87% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's gain of 7.48% and outpacing the S&P 500's gain of 0.22% in that time.

Albemarle will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 16, 2022. On that day, Albemarle is projected to report earnings of $0.96 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 17.95%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $884.18 million, up 0.57% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Albemarle. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 5.51% higher. Albemarle currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Digging into valuation, Albemarle currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 38.94. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.17.

It is also worth noting that ALB currently has a PEG ratio of 1.77. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Chemical - Diversified stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.21 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, putting it in the top 40% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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