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Albemarle (ALB) Stock Drops Despite Market Gains: Important Facts to Note

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Albemarle (ALB - Free Report) closed at $129.16 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.92% move from the prior day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.15%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.32%.

The the stock of specialty chemicals company has risen by 5.56% in the past month, leading the Basic Materials sector's gain of 3.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.65%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Albemarle in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on May 1, 2024. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $0.53, signifying a 94.86% drop compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $1.45 billion, down 43.86% from the prior-year quarter.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $3.15 per share and a revenue of $5.72 billion, indicating changes of -85.84% and -40.53%, respectively, from the former year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Albemarle should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 7.84% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Right now, Albemarle possesses a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, Albemarle is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 41.8. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.8.

We can additionally observe that ALB currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.61. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Chemical - Diversified industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.19.

The Chemical - Diversified industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 209, which puts it in the bottom 18% 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.

To follow ALB in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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