Lithium Stocks Down After Livent's 1Q Earnings Disappoint
May 12 2020 - 11:40AM
Dow Jones News
By Micah Maidenberg
Livent Corp. shares fell 10.3% in late morning trading, the
biggest decline among a cross section of lithium-producer
stocks.
Livent reported a first-quarter adjusted profit of 2 cents a
share on $68.5 million in revenue. Analysts were looking for 4
cents a share in earnings on $90.4 million in revenue, according to
FactSet.
Earlier this year, lithium companies saw their stocks gain
strongly, in part because of investor enthusiasm for Tesla Inc.'s
share. Those gains came in spite of a glut in the material, which
is used in batteries that power electric vehicles and other
devices.
Now, however, the lithium stocks have given up the earlier
increases, crimped by Covid-19's impact on economies around the
world and the electric-vehicle market.
"There is reduced visibility in our ability to forecast
near-term lithium demand," Chief Executive Paul Graves said on a
call yesterday about results. "A large part of this can be
attributed to the broad disruption to the auto market and the
implications of prolonged...plant shutdowns."
Sales volumes for electric vehicles were down in the first
quarter, Mr. Graves said.
"We expect to see the impact of recent [original-equipment
manufacturer] automotive shutdowns flow through the supply chain in
the second half," Albemarle Corp. finance chief Scott Tozier said
on an earnings call May 7.
Shares of Albemarle, which also sells bromine and other
products, traded down 1.1% while the American depository receipts
for the Chilean producer known as SQM were off 0.3%. Shares of
Lithium Americas Corp. fell 1.2%.
Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 12, 2020 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024