Albemarle (ALB) Reports Q4 Loss, Misses Revenue Estimates

Company Performance - Albemarle reported a quarterly loss of $1.09 per share, significantly worse than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $0.49, and down from earnings of $1.85 per share a year ago, representing an earnings surprise of -122.45% [1] - The company posted revenues of $1.23 billion for the quarter ended December 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.08%, and down from $2.36 billion in the same quarter last year [2] - Over the last four quarters, Albemarle has not surpassed consensus EPS estimates and has topped consensus revenue estimates only twice [2] Stock Performance - Albemarle shares have declined approximately 12.1% since the beginning of the year, contrasting with the S&P 500's gain of 3.2% [3] - The current consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming quarter is -$0.34 on revenues of $1.28 billion, and for the current fiscal year, it is $1.44 on revenues of $5.32 billion [7] Industry Outlook - The Zacks Industry Rank indicates that the Chemical - Diversified sector is currently in the bottom 11% of over 250 Zacks industries, suggesting a challenging environment for stocks in this sector [8] - The performance of Albemarle's stock may be influenced by the overall outlook for the industry, as historical data shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by more than 2 to 1 [8]