Albemarle Corporation ALB

Competitive advantage analysis · basic-materials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
34/100
Developing

About Albemarle Corporation

Albemarle Corporation provides energy storage solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties, and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride for use in lithium batteries used in consumer electronics and electric vehicles, power grids and solar panels, high performance greases, specialty glass used in consumer appliances and electronics. … Full ALB analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Cash Generation Consistent Cash generation is consistent (score 0.91), indicating reliable business model.
  • Consistent Cash Generation Cash generation is strong and consistent (score 0.91).

Key risks

  • Commodity Pressure / Weak Differentiation Gross margin at 20.0th percentile with high volatility suggests weak pricing power or commoditized products.
  • ROIC Below WACC or Peers ROIC at 25.5th percentile suggests inefficient capital deployment.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Weak
14

Where ALB ranks in Specialty Chemicals

Albemarle Corporation ranks #37 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score — the top 66%. The widest moat in the group is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near ALB in Specialty Chemicals
# Company Moat score Rating
33 Alto Ingredients, Inc. ALTO 42/100 Developing
34 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc APD 37/100 Developing
35 International Flavors & Fragran IFF 35/100 Developing
36 Orion S.A. OEC 35/100 Developing
37 Albemarle Corporation ALB 34/100 Developing
38 LyondellBasell Industries NV LYB 32/100 Developing
39 Kronos Worldwide Inc KRO 32/100 Developing
40 Gevo, Inc. GEVO 30/100 Developing
41 Chemours Company (The) CC 30/100 Developing

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How ALB scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 14 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 51 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 58 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 19 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 47 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 21 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding ALB's moat

What is Albemarle Corporation's moat score?

Albemarle Corporation (ALB) scores 34 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as developing. It ranks #37 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals, the top 66%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. Its strongest defense is Customer Stickiness (58/100) and its weakest is Pricing Power (14/100).

How does Albemarle Corporation compare with other Specialty Chemicals companies?

Albemarle Corporation ranks #37 of 56 scored companies in Specialty Chemicals by moat score. The widest moat in Specialty Chemicals is WD-40 Company (WDFC) at 81/100. The companies ranked closest are Orion S.A. (OEC) at 35 just above it and LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB) at 32 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 56 companies in Specialty Chemicals. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Albemarle Corporation scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Albemarle Corporation?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and ALB scores: Pricing Power (14), Cost Advantage (51), Customer Stickiness (58), Capital Efficiency (19), Resilience (47), Scale & Market Position (21). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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