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Albemarle (ALB) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

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Albemarle (ALB - Free Report) closed at $99.54 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.08% move from the prior day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.25%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.03%.

The specialty chemicals company's shares have seen a decrease of 22.68% over the last month, not keeping up with the Basic Materials sector's loss of 6.9% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.34%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Albemarle in its forthcoming earnings report. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.75, signifying an 89.77% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $1.41 billion, indicating a 40.35% downward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $2.49 per share and a revenue of $5.85 billion, demonstrating changes of -88.81% and -39.2%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Albemarle should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 20.27% downward. Albemarle presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Albemarle has a Forward P/E ratio of 40.38 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.4, which means Albemarle is trading at a premium to the group.

We can additionally observe that ALB currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.52. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. The average PEG ratio for the Chemical - Diversified industry stood at 1.07 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 83, which puts it in the top 33% 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.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.


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