Lithium Americas–Buy on the plunge

Lithium Americas–Buy on the plunge

I certainly understand the sell off in shares of development stage lithium producer Lithium Americas (LAC). Today, April 23, the stock closed at $4.68 a share, down another 1.47%. On April 16 the stock closed at $6.49 after hitting $7.34 on April 11. The culprit? The company closed a previously announced stock offer to 55 million shares at a price of $5 a share to raise $275 million.
You can see the problem, right? Stock is trading at $7.34 or $6.49 and then a big public offer dumps 55 million shares on the market at $5 a share. Ouch!! So I understand the price plunge–36.2% from April 11 to the close on April 23. And as someone who owns shares in his personal portfolio, I can’t say I’m a happy camper. But I will be being more in my personal account three days after this is posted.

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Lithium Americas

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Lithium Americas

Today’s Quick Pick is Lithium Americas (LAC). Lithium Americas is an American lithium producer, with a big deposit in Thacker Pass that has been going through litigation and delays while struggling to get enough financing with lithium prices down. We’ll likely see a bottom of lithium prices in the second half of 2024 or early 2025, so this is a good time to be getting in near the bottom. Lithium Americas signed a contract with General Motors agreeing that GM would take all the lithium they can produce, the question is, Can they produce it? Recently, the Department of Energy announced they’ll be lending Lithium Americas $2.3 billion to move forward with their processing facility. At the moment, China controls nearly all of the processing facilities for lithium globally and this investment will allow for domestic processing. This loan will cover all their capital costs and enable them to start production. The stock is moving upward, with shares around $6.50 per share. The recent rally has brought the stock back up to the price from December 2023, and the Wall Street consensus is that the stock may hit $11.50 in a year. While that prediction may be a bit ambitious, I think it’s likely we’ll see it reach $9-10, up about a third once they start to actually produce lithium in conjunction with lithium prices going up.

Lithium Americas–Buy on the plunge

My 10 Penny Stock Homeruns Pick #9: Lithium Americas (LAC)

This week Lithium Americas’ efforts to develop a huge new lithium mine at Thacker Pass in Nevada got a big a boost when the Department of Energy announced a $2.26 billion loan to the company to build processing facilities at the project. This gives the company the financing it needs to take the mine to first phase production scheduled for 2027. Plans call for producing 40,000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate per year when the first phase of production begins.

Special Report: 10 Penny Stock Home Runs–Pick #2 PILBF

Special Report: 10 Penny Stock Home Runs–Pick #2 PILBF

This one is very simple. When the price of lithium rebounds, high-quality low-cost lithium producers will see the revenue roll in. That’s why I’d got the world’s leading lithium-producer Albemarle (ALB) in my long-term 50 Stock Portfolio. But a smaller, high-quality, low-cost producer like Australia’s Pilbara Minerals will show gains even higher than Albemarle since the current price of $2.29 a share comes close to discounting the company’s survival.

Special Report: 10 Penny Stock Home Runs–Pick #1 LAZR, #2 PILBF, #3 GWH, #4 NLLSF, #5 LYSDY, #6 VWDRY, #7 LCCTF

Special Report: 10 Penny Stock Home Runs–Pick #1 LAZR, #2 PILBF, #3 GWH, #4 NLLSF, #5 LYSDY, #6 VWDRY, #7 LCCTF

Usually I start off one of these stock-picking Special Reports by building a paradigm that I can use to screen for the kind of stocks I’m looking for. For this Special Report: 10 Penny Stock Home Runs I’m going to reverse that process and begin with the 10 picks.My first pick is Luminar Technologies.

Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Albemarle

Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Albemarle

Today’s Quick Pick is Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a lithium producer. Lithium demand continues to rise with electric vehicles and rechargeable batteries finding expanding and new markets. Lithium producers have had a difficult time meeting demand–and projections say the demand gap is going to expand– and the price of Lithium has shot up. However, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM), and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), two Chilean lithium producers, took a hit recently due to political risks. Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric announced a plan on April 22 to nationalize the country’s lithium resources, sending the lithium stocks plunging. However, investors may have overlooked some key points in the announcement: the country will honor existing leases (SQM’s leases expire in 2030, and Albemarle’s leases expire in 2043) and this plan still has to be passed by the Chilean legislature. Recent votes have favored the right in Chile and Boric’s party may not have the votes (or inclination) in the current legislature to pass this proposal. A right-wing government would likely be unhappy with the idea of nationalizing a previously private sector. (Chile’s lithium resources already belong to the state with these companies holding time-limited production leases.) Right now, with Albemarle’s longer lease and changing Chilean politics, this is a good time to get in on Albemarle and its expanding lithium production from mines in Australia and the United States. (Only 30% of its revenue comes from Chile.)

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Li-cycle Holdings

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Li-cycle Holdings

Today’s Quick Pick is Li-Cycle Holdings (NYSE: LICY). Li-Cycle is in the start-up stage of building a hub and spoke system to recycle lithium batteries. As more electric vehicles enter the market, companies that can recycle the lithium from their batteries has drawn a lot of investment dollars, both because fulfilling the green potential of electric vehicles requires closing the battery loop and because recycling provides a supply increasingly expensive of battery materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. And there are new incentives in the field because the Inflation Reduction Act included money for loans/funding for recycling companies. Most of the new entrants are private. One of the few publicly traded battery recycling companies is Li-Cycle. Li-Cycle started as a SPAC, a formerly popular way to take a company, but now the market is largely shunning SPAC companies out of fear that they will run out of capital before they hit breakeven. However, Li-Cycle just announced it had received conditional approval for a $375 million loan from the Department of Energy, allowing it, by my calculations,  to finish their Rochester hub. The hub recovers marketable lithium, cobalt, and nickel from the black mass that the company collects from batteries. Once the hub is completed, it will go from a cash drain on the balance sheet to a generator of cash. This is a risky stock. The shares are down 57% since I added them to my Milliennial Portfolio on November 15, 2021 but they are up 21% for 2023 to date as of March 2. This one is for the strong of stomach willing to take a risk and hold on to it through dips as the company starts to generate revenue and earnings.