Basic Materials Worth Chasing: Albemarle Corporation (ALB), Monsanto Company (MON)

Albemarle Corporation (ALB) ended last trading session with a change of 1.41 percent. It trades at an average volume of 964.97K shares versus 1.34M shares recorded at the end of last trading session. The share price of $104.5 is at a distance of 79.59 percent from its 52-week low and down -0.67 percent versus its peak. The company has a market cap of $11.75B and currently has 112.49M shares outstanding. The share price is currently 7.35 percent versus its SMA20, 10.73 percent versus its SMA50, and 22.38 percent versus its SMA200. The stock has a weekly performance of 2.34 percent and is 21.4 percent year-to-date as of the recent close.

On Feb. 27, 2017 Albemarle Corporation (ALB) reported fourth quarter 2016 net sales of $696.7 million, net income from continuing operations of $50.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $187.4 million.

Fourth quarter 2016 highlights:

• Fourth quarter earnings were $602.1 million, or $5.30 per diluted share, including $546.3 million in after-tax gains related to the sale of the Chemetall Surface Treatment business
• Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA was $187.4 million, an increase of 12% over the prior year, excluding the impact of divestitures
• Full year cash from operations was a record $733.4 million, an increase of 103% over the prior year
• Completed sale of Chemetall Surface Treatment business on December 14 and completed the acquisition of the lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate conversion assets of Jiangxi Jiangli New Materials Science and Technology Co. Ltd. on December 31
• Net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio at December 31, 2016 was 0.1x, a significant step in our deleveraging efforts

Monsanto Company (MON) recently recorded 0.07 percent change and currently at $114.14 is 36.76 percent away from its 52-week low and down -1.64 percent versus its peak. It has a past 5-day performance of -0.44 percent and trades at an average volume of 1.81M shares. The stock has a 1-month performance of 6.15 percent and is 9.05 percent year-to-date as of the recent close. There were about 437.52M shares outstanding which made its market cap $49.94B. The share price is currently 1.87 percent versus its SMA20, 4.28 percent versus its SMA50, and 8.77 percent versus its SMA200.

On January 27, 2017 Monsanto Company (MON) announced that its Board of Directors, at a regularly scheduled meeting held, declared a quarterly dividend on its common stock of 54 cents per share. The dividend is payable on April 28, 2017, to shareowners of record on April 7, 2017. It relates to the second quarter of the company’s 2017 fiscal year.

In other matters, Monsanto shareowners reelected 13 board members to serve new one-year terms ending with the company’s annual meeting in 2018, subject to the prior completion of the acquisition by Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, which is currently expected by the end of calendar year 2017. Today’s elected board members include Dwight M. “Mitch” Barns; Gregory H. Boyce; David L. Chicoine, Ph.D.; Janice L. Fields; Hugh Grant; Arthur H. Harper; Laura K. Ipsen; Marcos M. Lutz; C. Steven McMillan; Jon R. Moeller; George H. Poste, Ph.D., D.V.M.; Robert J. Stevens; and Patricia Verduin, Ph.D.