Albemarle (ALB)
Forward P/E is 9.35x against a peer median of 16.27x, a ratio of 0.57x — well below the fair range — with trailing P/E 198.83x and PEG not available (shown as n/a). Latest-quarter revenue grew 31.1% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), far above the cluster pace, so the low forward multiple is not explained by weak delivered growth; the very high trailing P/E reflects depressed past earnings rather than the forward price. Delivered demand check: the chemicals & industrial gases group's median growth was 9.3% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing much faster than that pace.
What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E rises to about 18.7x or above (1.15x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth falls below 0% year over year for two quarters. Move back toward fair value sooner if revenue growth falls to the cluster median of 9.3% or below while the forward multiple rises above 14.6x (0.90x the peer median).
Albemarle makes lithium and specialty chemicals, mainly for batteries. Its shares trade at about 9 times expected earnings, well below similar companies at about 16 times, even though its sales grew about 31% in the latest quarter. On the numbers delivered, the shares look undervalued.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Albemarle returned +1.61% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Albemarle: -84.4% (2022-11-11 to 2025-04-08). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 9.35x against a peer median of 16.27x, a ratio of 0.57x — well below the fair range — with trailing P/E 198.83x and PEG not available (shown as n/a). Latest-quarter revenue grew 31.1% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), far above the cluster pace, so the low forward multiple is not explained by weak delivered growth; the very high trailing P/E reflects depressed past earnings rather than the forward price. Delivered demand check: the chemicals & industrial gases group's median growth was 9.3% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing much faster than that pace. The company’s forward P/E is 9.3× against a peer median of 16.3×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the chemicals & industrial gases group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 9.3% year over year (SEC filings) — demand steady. This company grew 31.1%, much faster than the group median. Latest-quarter sales growth was +31.1% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albemarle (ALB) | $96.93 | 9.3× | 198.8× |
| LYB | $67.35 | 9.0× | — |
| IFF | $90.54 | 26.2× | 83.7× |
| DOW | $34.09 | 16.3× | — |
| PPG | $119.68 | 14.0× | 17.1× |
| APD | $307.45 | 21.6× | — |
| Peer median | 16.3× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-30 | $1.7B | 33.9% | $480M | 3.52 | $638M |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-31 | $1.4B | 35.1% | $319M | 2.34 | $248M |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-31 | $1.4B | 13.9% | $-414M | — | $233M |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-30 | $1.3B | 9.0% | $-161M | -1.72 | $223M |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-30 | $1.3B | 14.8% | $23M | -0.16 | $-127M |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-31 | $1.1B | 14.5% | $41M | 0.00 | $363M |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-31 | $1.2B | 11.2% | $75M | — | $-355M |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-30 | $1.4B | -7.7% | $-1.1B | -9.45 | $-63M |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $1.4B | -0.7% | $-188M | -1.96 | $-85M |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $1.4B | 2.9% | $2M | -0.08 | $-481M |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-31 | $2.4B | -29.9% | $-618M | — | $-782M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-30 | $2.3B | 2.4% | $303M | 2.57 | $83M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | ALBEMARLE CORP |
| Chief executive | Kent Masters (source: https://www.albemarle.com/us/en/news/albemarle-announces-ceo-succession-plan) |
| Sector | Materials — Specialty Chemicals — makes lithium and other specialty chemicals used in batteries and industrial products |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $96.93 |
| Market value (market cap) | $11.7B — share price times shares outstanding of 118,005,057 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $5.9B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $224M |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $1.3B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jun 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +1.61% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -84.4% (2022-11-11 to 2025-04-08) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- PEG ratio was shown as n/a on the statistics page, so no PEG evidence is used in this label.
- CEO succession announced Sep 3, 2026: Ragnar Udd was appointed to succeed Kent Masters effective February 1, 2027; Kent Masters is the current chief executive as of Oct 28, 2026.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000915913.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000915913.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/ALB/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.