NEW YORK, January 8, 2026, 07:28 EST — Premarket
- Albemarle rose 2.2% before the bell as Wall Street lifted targets on firmer lithium pricing
- China lithium carbonate prices rose again, though futures swung sharply intraday
- Traders are watching whether the price run holds into February earnings
Albemarle (ALB.N) rose 2.2% in premarket trading on Thursday to $161.57, as investors leaned into a new round of bullish analyst calls tied to higher lithium prices.
The move matters because lithium stocks have been trading like a pure bet on the commodity again. When the price of lithium carbonate rises, profits at miners and refiners can swing fast; when it falls, balance sheets get stress-tested.
This time, analysts are talking less about electric vehicles and more about the grid. Stationary energy storage — big battery packs that store electricity for later — has become the demand story some investors want to buy, and it shows up quickly in lithium price screens.
Baird upgraded Albemarle to Outperform from Neutral and lifted its price target to $210 from $113, pointing to strengthening lithium prices and energy storage demand. The broker noted lithium prices had climbed to over $15 per kilogram and said Albemarle’s valuation “appears to have more room to run.” 1
Jefferies also raised its price target to $167 from $152 and kept a Buy rating, with analyst Laurence Alexander pointing to robotics adoption and the “mobile physical AI” theme as a new driver for lithium demand. 2
In China, the SMM battery-grade lithium carbonate index stood at 137,043 yuan per metric ton, up 4,812 yuan on the day, while spot battery-grade prices averaged 138,500 yuan, up 5,000 yuan, SMM data showed. The most-traded lithium carbonate futures contract — a derivatives contract used by traders to hedge or speculate — jumped to around 148,500 yuan before sliding to near 137,000 and later settling at 145,000, SMM said, adding downstream buyers showed low acceptance at higher prices. 3
Other lithium-linked names were mixed in early trading, with SQM (SQM.N) up 0.8% and Lithium Americas (LAC.N) up 2.5%, while Sigma Lithium (SGML.O) fell 3.7%.
There’s a counterweight too. China’s industry ministry warned battery makers about overcapacity risks and urged companies to optimise output, a reminder that fast capacity build-outs can end badly for pricing across the chain. 4
Still, the rally can break as quickly as it started. If downstream battery and materials plants keep resisting higher spot prices, or if supply responds faster than expected, lithium pricing could stall — and these stocks tend to follow.
