Albemarle (ALB) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Albemarle published the results on November 4, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Albemarle reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted diluted, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Albemarle sold a 51% stake in Ketjen's refining catalyst solutions business on March 2, 2026. The year-ago Corporate and all other net sales include that business, and its earnings are now equity income.
• GAAP diluted EPS deducts $41.7 million of mandatory convertible preferred stock dividends. Adjusted diluted EPS instead assumes the preferred converts, on 137.1 million diluted shares.

Source: Albemarle Q3 2026 results, November 4, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Albemarle splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Albemarle's Energy Storage revenue was $1.1 billion in Q3 2026, up 58% from $709 million in Q3 2025, 72% of total revenue.
• Albemarle's Specialties revenue was $389 million in Q3 2026, up 13% from $345 million in Q3 2025, 25% of total revenue.
• Albemarle's Corporate and all other revenue was $45.7 million in Q3 2026, down 82% from $254 million in Q3 2025, 3% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

Albemarle gives company-wide 2026 net sales and adjusted EBITDA as three scenarios tied to the average lithium market price (about $10, $20 and $30 per kg LCE). It does not give a single range.

In its Q3 2026 release, Albemarle said:

“Specialties adjusted EBITDA of $350-$375 million (up from $275-$325 million), in part driven by ongoing cost and productivity improvements.”

“Sales volumes are expected to be in the range of 225 to 235 kilotons lithium carbonate equivalent”

“Fourth quarter 2026 net sales and adjusted EBITDA are expected to decrease sequentially due to lower market pricing with steady sales volumes.”

“Reducing full-year capital expenditure forecast to $300-$350 million (down from approximately $500 million)”

Source: Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 4, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the ALB forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Net sales and diluted EPS attributable to common shareholders, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Albemarle's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 4, 2026

Albemarle reports two segments. In Q3 2026 Energy Storage, which sells lithium salts and spodumene, had net sales of $1,118.8 million of the $1,553.1 million total. Specialties, which sells bromine and highly specialized lithium products, had $388.6 million. Corporate and all other fell to $45.7 million from $254.1 million after Albemarle sold a 51% stake in Ketjen's refining catalyst business in March 2026. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Albemarle Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 11, 2026)

Albemarle's Energy Storage net sales rose 58% because the average realized price more than doubled to $20.02 per kg of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) from $10.28, while volume fell to 56 kT from 69 kT. Albemarle said the year-ago quarter was its record volume quarter because of inventory destocking and higher-than-usual spodumene shipments. The 10-Q says many of its contracts are index-referenced and variable-priced, and about 40% of salts volume is on long-term agreements. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Albemarle Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Specialties net sales rose 13% on higher pricing (+10%) and volumes (+3%), led by bromine and derivatives, and the Jordan Bromine Company joint venture had record quarterly production. Albemarle names semiconductors, oil and gas, flame retardants and pharmaceuticals as the end markets where it expects modest volume growth. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Albemarle sources lithium from its 49%-owned Windfield joint venture, which owns Talison and the Greenbushes mine in Australia, from its 50%-owned MARBL joint venture at Wodgina, and from brine at the Salar de Atacama in Chile and Silver Peak, Nevada. Equity in net income of unconsolidated investments was $205.4 million in Q3 2026, against $60.6 million. Talison's CGP3 plant, delayed by a June 9 fire, reached 30 days of nameplate performance in September. (Albemarle Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 11, 2026; Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Albemarle's GAAP diluted EPS was $2.15 in Q3 2026, against a loss of $1.72, and adjusted diluted EPS was $2.58. The $0.41 a share of non-recurring and other unusual items it excludes includes tax related items ($0.11), a strategic cost savings initiative ($0.08), restructuring tied to placing Kemerton Train 1 into care and maintenance ($0.06) and a loss in fair value of public equity securities ($0.06). The year-ago loss included a $1.49 a share goodwill impairment on Refining Solutions. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Albemarle's two EPS figures use different share counts. GAAP EPS deducts $41.7 million of mandatory convertible preferred stock dividends and uses 118.5 million diluted shares; adjusted EPS assumes the preferred converts and uses 137.1 million. Albemarle guides to about 136 million diluted shares for 2026. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

The effective income tax rate was 16.4%, or 5.8% on an adjusted basis, which Albemarle attributes to geographic income mix. Interest and financing expenses fell to $27.8 million from $51.0 million; the 10-Q says the Ketjen divestiture proceeds, about $648 million, went toward paying down senior notes. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Albemarle Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Albemarle frames its 2026 outlook as lithium price scenarios. At an average market price of about $10 per kg LCE it sees net sales of $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $0.9 billion to $1.0 billion; at about $20, $5.7 billion to $6.0 billion and $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion; at about $30, $7.5 billion to $7.8 billion and $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion. The scenarios assume flat pricing through its contract book and spodumene at 10% of the LCE price. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

With Q3 2026 Albemarle raised its Specialties adjusted EBITDA outlook to $350 million to $375 million, cut planned 2026 capital expenditures to $300 million to $350 million from about $500 million, and said it expects fourth-quarter net sales and adjusted EBITDA to fall sequentially on lower market pricing. (Albemarle Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Albemarle, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Albemarle's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning ALB is on is ALB a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the ALB forecast, and what the company does is on the Albemarle (ALB) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Albemarle published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.