Albemarle: Q4 Earnings Snapshot

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Albemarle Corp. (ALB) on Wednesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $617.7 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had a loss of $5.26. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.85 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 99 cents per share.

The specialty chemicals company posted revenue of $2.36 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.29 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.57 billion, or $13.36 per share. Revenue was reported as $9.62 billion.

Albemarle shares have declined 21% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $114.39, a decrease of 58% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ALB at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ALB