Albemarle (ALB) will likely benefit from factors like its low-cost assets, brownfield opportunity, as well as continued focus on earnings improvement in Specialties, RBC Capital Markets said in a note emailed Monday.
The investment firm said the company may also benefit from "significant demand growth" for energy storage systems and batteries for electric vehicles.
RBC noted that "while lithium prices have come off somewhat in Q2" due to supply concerns, Albemarle has indicated that the market remains somewhat tight and demand growth is outpacing added supply.
"Demand growth continues to be robust, with improving stationary demand as US auto OEMs transition battery production into storage needs, given relatively weak [North America] BEV demand vs. Asia, which should still be a net positive for US lithium demand," the note said.
RBC has an outperform rating on Albemarle and decreased the company's price target to $157 from $166.
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