(Bloomberg) — Top lithium miner Albemarle Corp. wiped out almost a fifth of its value in a record share decline after its profit forecast disappointed investors expecting a bigger windfall from record-high prices of the battery metal.
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Albemarle raised its 2022 outlook for earnings per share to a range of $5.65 to $6.65 on Wednesday. That’s “surprisingly low,” said Aleksey Yefremov, senior analyst of U.S. chemicals at KeyBanc Capital Markets.
Investors “were hoping it’d be a blowout because the spot lithium prices are so high,” Yefremov said.
Lithium, a key ingredient in batteries powering electric vehicles, started 2022 with a fresh price spike due to a series of near-term risks that are threatening shortages just as demand accelerates. The already tight market is being roiled by disruptions from plant maintenance and the Winter Olympics in China, to…
