Albemarle (ALB +6.2%) surges as much as 7% after saying it would double its stock buyback for the year to $500M, in addition to reporting better than expected Q2 earnings and revenues as well as above-consensus guidance on full-year earnings.
"We believe the stock is currently undervalued," CEO Luke Kissam said during today's earnings conference call.
For FY 2018, ALB expects EBITDA in its lithium business to increase by the low- to mid-20s as a percentage, driven by strong volume and price improvements, primarily in its battery grade product portfolio; the company forecasts overall EBITDA of $990M-$1.02B vs. earlier guidance of $955M-$1B.