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

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Albemarle (ALB - Free Report) closed at $106.44 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.97% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.63%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.43%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.04%.

Coming into today, shares of the specialty chemicals company had gained 1.15% in the past month. In that same time, the Basic Materials sector lost 8.85%, while the S&P 500 lost 6.28%.

ALB will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 7, 2018. In that report, analysts expect ALB to post earnings of $1.25 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 15.74%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $804.37 million, up 6.56% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.38 per share and revenue of $3.39 billion, which would represent changes of +17.21% and +10.44%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for ALB. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% lower. ALB is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note ALB's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 19.6. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.09, which means ALB is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that ALB has a PEG ratio of 1.38. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Chemical - Diversified industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.04 as of yesterday's close.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 223, which puts it in the bottom 13% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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