Al Root

After a few painful years, Wall Street sees a brighter future for lithium and lithium-mining stocks.

Shares of the lithium miner Albemarle were higher early on Tuesday after catching another upgrade to Buy. BofA analyst Rock Hoffman raised his rating from Hold on Tuesday, taking his price target to $190 from $167. Recent weakness in the shares provides an attractive entry point, he wrote.

Albemarle stock was up 1.3% at $168.55, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.

The idea that the stock has been weak recently is relative. Coming into Tuesday trading, shares were up 18% year to date, up 41% over the past three months, and 102% over the past six months. But to Hoffman's point, they were also down about $30 from the 52-week high reached in late January.

Benchmark lithium prices are about $20,000 per metric ton, up from less than $9,000 six months ago.

That has been a relief. Lithium prices peaked at about $84,000 a metric ton in late 2022, boosted by rising demand from electric vehicles. But while lithium production expanded, growth in demand for EVs slowed, pushing lithium prices lower. Now, rising demand for utility-scale battery storage has pushed lithium prices back up.

Wall Street has noticed. With the BofA change, Albemarle stock has been upgraded six times since November, according to FactSet. Most of those have been from Hold to Buy. Albemarle stock has also lost a Sell rating.

Now, 54% of analysts covering the stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet, only a touch below the average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 at about 55%. In November, 33% of analysts covering the stock rated it Buy.

The average analyst price target is up to about $190. It was closer to $100 in November.

BofA's rating action also mirrors the improving sentiment. Hoffman downgraded shares from Buy to Hold in October. Back then, he thought shares were fairly valued after a recent run-up catalyzed by lower lithium production, which had pushed up commodity prices.

Now, the outlook for lithium looks better, and Wall Street sees more gains ahead.

It can be hard to buy a stock as strong as Albemarle lately. Investors might want to remember that shares were north of $320 in late 2022, when expectations for EV sales growth were near their highest levels.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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February 17, 2026 09:16 ET (14:16 GMT)

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