ALB · Materials(plastic materials, synth resins & nonvulcan elastomers) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Albemarle Corp reported revenue of $5.1 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 7.5% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 22.4% in 2016 to -7.1%, and it earned -3.7% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $8.7 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 110.4% went back into the business and 19.2% to dividends; the share count rose 3.9%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 3.12 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20255.1B+7.5% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-7.1%gross margin 13.0%
Return on invested capital-3.7%1.5% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay652.2M12.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA5.4×net debt 1.6B
Piotroski F-score5/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-5B05B10B
2016Revenue 2.7BOperating income 601.0M
2017Revenue 3.1BOperating income 571.7M
2018Revenue 3.4BOperating income 911.5M
2019Revenue 3.6BOperating income 666.1M
2020Revenue 3.1BOperating income 505.8M
2021Revenue 3.3BOperating income 798.4M
2022Revenue 7.3BOperating income 2.5B
2023Revenue 9.6BOperating income 251.9M
2024Revenue 5.4BOperating income -1.8B
2025Revenue 5.1BOperating income -367.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-11.1%
+10.4%
+7.5%
Free cash flow per share
+2.4%
—
+2.4%
Dividend per share
+1.1%
+1.3%
+3.4%
Shares
-0.0%
+2.0%
+0.4%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-5.4%
Return on assets
-3.1%
Asset turnover
0.31×
Research & development
1.0% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
10.7% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-2B-1B01B2B3B
2016Net income 643.7MFree cash flow 538.9MAfter stock-based pay 521.8M
2017Net income 54.9MFree cash flow -13.7MAfter stock-based pay -33.1M
2018Net income 693.6MFree cash flow -153.8MAfter stock-based pay -169.1M
2019Net income 533.2MFree cash flow -132.4MAfter stock-based pay -152.1M
2020Net income 375.8MFree cash flow -51.6MAfter stock-based pay -74.4M
2021Net income 123.7MFree cash flow -609.4MAfter stock-based pay -629.5M
2022Net income 2.7BFree cash flow 646.2MAfter stock-based pay 615.7M
2023Net income 1.6BFree cash flow -828.0MAfter stock-based pay -864.5M
2024Net income -1.2BFree cash flow -992.7MAfter stock-based pay -1.0B
2025Net income -510.6MFree cash flow 692.5MAfter stock-based pay 652.2M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
8.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 110%9.6B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 19%1.7B
Share buybacks 9%750.0M
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -38%-3.3B
Over the same years it paid 253.7M in stock. The share count rose 3.9%. 496.3M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
-$20-$10$0$10$20$30
2016Earnings per share $5.68Free cash flow per share $4.76Dividend per share $1.20
2017Earnings per share $0.49Free cash flow per share $-0.12Dividend per share $1.25
2018Earnings per share $6.34Free cash flow per share $-1.41Dividend per share $1.32
2019Earnings per share $5.02Free cash flow per share $-1.25Dividend per share $1.43
2020Earnings per share $3.52Free cash flow per share $-0.48Dividend per share $1.52
2021Earnings per share $1.06Free cash flow per share $-5.23Dividend per share $1.53
2022Earnings per share $22.84Free cash flow per share $5.49Dividend per share $1.57
2023Earnings per share $13.36Free cash flow per share $-7.03Dividend per share $1.59
2024Earnings per share $-10.04Free cash flow per share $-8.45Dividend per share $1.60
2025Earnings per share $-4.34Free cash flow per share $5.89Dividend per share $1.62
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
105M110M115M120M
2016Diluted shares 113.2M
2017Diluted shares 112.4M
2018Diluted shares 109.5M
2019Diluted shares 106.3M
2020Diluted shares 106.8M
2021Diluted shares 116.5M
2022Diluted shares 117.8M
2023Diluted shares 117.8M
2024Diluted shares 117.5M
2025Diluted shares 117.7M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
01B2B3B4B
2016Net debt 99.5M
2017Net debt 700.1M
2018Net debt 1.1B
2019Net debt 2.4B
2020Net debt 2.8B
2021Net debt 2.0B
2022Net debt 1.7B
2023Net debt 3.3B
2024Net debt 2.3B
2025Net debt 1.6B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
5.4×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
2.23 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 42d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
5of 9 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
3.12safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.13 × 6.56+0.89
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.28 × 3.26+0.92
Operating income ÷ assets -0.02 × 6.72-0.15
Equity ÷ liabilities 1.39 × 1.05+1.46
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-3.64below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 0.84+0.77
Gross margin slipping 0.09+0.05
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 0.96+0.85
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.93-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.11-0.51
Leverage rising 0.98-0.32
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
The effective tax rate is -28.4%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
Net debt is 5.4 times EBITDA.
Benign
A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.
Worrying
Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.