Albemarle Corporation (ALB Quick QuoteALB - Free Report) successfully completed the earlier announced sale of its polyolefin catalysts and components business to W. R. Grace & Co. . Proceeds from the deal worth around $416 million are subject to customary post-closing adjustments. 

 

Per the terms of the deal, the curatives and organometallics portions of the Performance Catalysts Solutions business remain with Albemarle. Grace will assume the operations and lease at the Product Development Center in Baton Rouge, LA, and operations at the Yeosu site in South Korea.

 

Per Albemarle, this move demonstrates its continued commitment toward portfolio management in the best interest of shareholders and employees. Grace is well placed to drive the polyolefin catalysts and components business toward success.

 

Shares of Albemarle have declined 14.1% in the past three months, underperforming the industry’s 6.5% gain.

 

 

 

 

Albemarle expects adjusted earnings per share for 2018 in the band of $5 to $5.40, a year-over-year increase of 9-18%. It also envisions net sales for 2018 to be between $3.2 billion and $3.4 billion. Adjusted EBITDA has been forecast in the range of $955-$1,005 million.

 

Albemarle, last month, received approval from Chile's Economic Development Agency for an increase in its lithium quota, enabling the company to sustainably expand its lithium production in Chile to roughly 145,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent per annum through 2043.

 

Per the company, this increase in quota will be enabled by deploying innovative technology for extracting more lithium without requiring additional brine pumping at the Salar de Atacama, giving it the opportunity to boost capacity in a highly sustainable and efficient manner.

 

 

 

Albemarle currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

 

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (LYB Quick QuoteLYB - Free Report) and Kronos Worldwide Inc. (KRO Quick QuoteKRO - Free Report) both sporting Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here

 

LyondellBasell has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 9%. The company’s shares have moved up 14.8% in a year. 

 

Kronos has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 5%. Its shares have gained 35.7% over a year. 

 

 

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