Latest news with #SQM
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A (SQM) Targets 5% Layoffs in Chile as Lithium Prices Slump
Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE:SQM) is one of the best chemical stocks to buy, according to billionaires. On June 25, the company commenced a series of layoffs targeting 5% of its workforce in Chile in response to a slump in global prices for battery metals. SUWIT NGAOKAEW/ The layoffs in the lithium and fertilizer units are not expected to affect the company's core operations or production guidance. The company has already confirmed that 25% to 30% of the layoffs will affect general roles, and the rest will affect supervisors in Chile. The layoffs come on the heels of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A.'s first-quarter results, which missed estimates. The company has already warned that weak prices would persist through the first half of the year. Lithium prices have already plunged by 90% from the 2022 peak. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE:SQM) is a Chilean chemical and mining company that produces and commercializes lithium, iodine, potassium, and specialty fertilizers. Its products are used in various industries, including batteries, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industrial applications. While we acknowledge the potential of SQM as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 12 Best Consumer Goods Stocks Billionaires Are Quietly Buying and Goldman Sachs Penny Stocks: Top 12 Stock Picks. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Lithium Miner Albemarle's Stock Pops as Chinese Miner Halts Operations
Key Takeaways Albemarle shares surged to lead S&P 500 gainers Thursday. The stock and global lithium prices were lifted by reports that a large lithium miner in China halted operations, easing concerns about an oversupply. RBC analysts recently raised their price target for Albemarle's stock, while noting that low lithium prices have remained a weakness for the (ALB) shares surged Thursday as lithium prices rose amid reports that a large lithium miner in China halted operations, easing concerns about an oversupply. Shares of Albemarle, the world's largest lithium miner, were up nearly 9% in recent trading, leading gains in the S&P 500. Sociedad Quimica y Minera, or SQM (SQM), saw its shares jump close to 8%. China's Zangge Mining Co. said government officials told the company to halt illegal mining operations and follow guidelines governing lithium resources, according to Bloomberg. The report said the company is working on preparing documents to apply to resume output. The company was not reached for comment by Investopedia in time for publication. Separately, analysts from RBC Capital Markets on Thursday lifted their price target for Albemarle stock to $80 from $76 and reiterated an "outperform" rating, while noting a key weakness from persistently low lithium prices due to oversupply. Albemarle is set to report second-quarter results after the closing bell on July 30. Albemarle's Thursday move brought the stock above $76 in recent trading, just above the $75 mean of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. Four of the 12 analysts give the stock a "buy" or equivalent rating, compared with seven "hold" ratings, and one "sell." Even with Thursday's gains, the shares have lost close to 12% of their value since the start of the year. This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional information and reflect more recent share price values. Read the original article on Investopedia Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Telegraph
Overblown hopes turn housing market stale
Old listings rarely garner serious attention in residential property market analysis. Despite being overlooked by buyers, and most market analysts, these stale listings have a serious impact, in terms of elevating stock levels and also in price direction. Buyers want the freshest of listings, and some even are prepared to pay buyers agents for access to that elusive must-have off market offering. Sydney has 6300 unsold listings that have been on the market for 180 plus days, according to SQM's Louis Christopher who closely monitors stock levels. The old listings number is up 30 per cent on the same time last year. At the same time there's been about a 4 per cent annual decline in new listings for the month of June with SQM calculating 12,700 new listings. All up, Sydney buyers have a selection of 34,500 listings, so about 18 per cent of stock is stale. Christopher notes rising old stock points to a mismatch between pricing and buyer appetite and capacity. Sydney is 'grappling with stale supply even as fresh listings taper off through the winter months,' Christopher advises. Christopher regularly notes that older listings generally increase during market slowdowns or downturns. It appears many Sydney vendors are wedded in their price hopes to past highs, while the cost-of-living pressures and still annoying high mortgage rates have constrained buyer enthusiasm. Unless sold or withdrawn, the high number of homes that are languishing on the market will be an overhang of stock in the market as Sydney approaches the prospect of a bumper spring selling season. The Sydney old listings tally is still well short of the record 10,000 in 2019, when total listings sat at their highest, almost 40,000, which provided buyers with a huge choice and probable stronger negotiating positions. Nationally SQM Research calculates more than 77,000 properties have sat on the market for six months or more, a 13.5 per cent jump year-on-year. Among the state capitals, only Brisbane's old listings are down year-on-year, in their case by seven per cent. It is an international occurrence, too, with calculating 24 per cent of stock in the United States was stale – the highest percentage since 2020. Unrealistic price expectations are also leading to longer selling times, and fewer sales across Sydney. Mosman, the second most sought-after suburb searched by buyers last year on sits at 60 days on market median for its luxury houses. It is selling 15 days slower than July two years ago, according to PropTrack, and with just 200 sales in the past year, sales activity is well down on the 330-plus in peak year 2021. The time to take a Bundeena sale has jumped from 57 days in July 2023 to its current 99 days on market. Wilberforce's median time on market sits at 81 days, up from 64 last July and 45 in July 2023. At 38 days, Kings Langley houses are spending 19 days longer before their sale, double two years ago.
News.com.au
16-07-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Overblown hopes turn housing market stale
Old listings rarely garner serious attention in residential property market analysis. Despite being overlooked by buyers, and most market analysts, these stale listings have a serious impact, in terms of elevating stock levels and also in price direction. Buyers want the freshest of listings, and some even are prepared to pay buyers agents for access to that elusive must-have off market offering. Sydney has 6300 unsold listings that have been on the market for 180 plus days, according to SQM's Louis Christopher who closely monitors stock levels. The old listings number is up 30 per cent on the same time last year. At the same time there's been about a 4 per cent annual decline in new listings for the month of June with SQM calculating 12,700 new listings. All up, Sydney buyers have a selection of 34,500 listings, so about 18 per cent of stock is stale. Christopher notes rising old stock points to a mismatch between pricing and buyer appetite and capacity. Sydney is 'grappling with stale supply even as fresh listings taper off through the winter months,' Christopher advises. Christopher regularly notes that older listings generally increase during market slowdowns or downturns. It appears many Sydney vendors are wedded in their price hopes to past highs, while the cost-of-living pressures and still annoying high mortgage rates have constrained buyer enthusiasm. Unless sold or withdrawn, the high number of homes that are languishing on the market will be an overhang of stock in the market as Sydney approaches the prospect of a bumper spring selling season. The Sydney old listings tally is still well short of the record 10,000 in 2019, when total listings sat at their highest, almost 40,000, which provided buyers with a huge choice and probable stronger negotiating positions. Nationally SQM Research calculates more than 77,000 properties have sat on the market for six months or more, a 13.5 per cent jump year-on-year. Among the state capitals, only Brisbane's old listings are down year-on-year, in their case by seven per cent. It is an international occurrence, too, with calculating 24 per cent of stock in the United States was stale – the highest percentage since 2020. Unrealistic price expectations are also leading to longer selling times, and fewer sales across Sydney. Mosman, the second most sought-after suburb searched by buyers last year on sits at 60 days on market median for its luxury houses. It is selling 15 days slower than July two years ago, according to PropTrack, and with just 200 sales in the past year, sales activity is well down on the 330-plus in peak year 2021. The time to take a Bundeena sale has jumped from 57 days in July 2023 to its current 99 days on market. Wilberforce's median time on market sits at 81 days, up from 64 last July and 45 in July 2023. At 38 days, Kings Langley houses are spending 19 days longer before their sale, double two years ago.
The Sun
16-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Indigenous groups seek halt to Chile lithium deal review in court
SANTIAGO: Two Indigenous groups in northern Chile have asked a local court to suspend a state-led community review process that is required for a lithium partnership between copper giant Codelco and lithium miner SQM , according to legal documents reviewed by Reuters. The Indigenous community of Coyo and the Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers of San Pedro de Atacama each independently filed legal challenges last week with a Chilean appeals court in the Antofagasta region, accusing Chilean economic development agency Corfo of not properly carrying out a consultation process to seek their input on the partnership. The process is one of the final conditions for a deal to go into effect in which state-run Codelco will take a majority stake in SQM's lithium mining operations in the Atacama salt flat. The Coyo community and the Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers, which has Indigenous members, said they needed more information and time to be able to provide informed consent on the plan. The Antofagasta court on Friday accepted their challenges, according to a court document. It ordered Corfo to respond to the allegations within 15 days, and asked Codelco and SQM to provide comments. Corfo told Reuters that the consultation process was still in progress. 'The Indigenous consultation process with the Atacama Indigenous organizations is moving forward and has been carried out in accordance with the regulations,' the agency said in a statement. Codelco declined to comment, while SQM did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Indigenous consultation, which was led by Corfo and included a few dozen community groups located around the Atacama salt flat, was due to conclude around late July. SQM and Codelco are separately holding talks with communities near the salt flat to discuss a model for Indigenous oversight over lithium extraction. The Coyo community and Atacameno Association of Irrigators and Farmers both asked the court to suspend the process until a new methodology for the community review could be implemented, and more information provided. Both groups said Corfo had not provided enough detail about the proposed contract between Codelco and SQM and argued that the consultation's timeline between November 2024 and July 2025 was too fast to allow for detailed analysis. They also said Corfo at several points did not act in good faith, and did not meet the standards set out by the International Labour Organization, a U.N. agency. 'This situation directly affects the fundamental rights of the Community by limiting its influence over decisions that impact its territory, environmental surroundings, and collective rights, thereby violating constitutional guarantees,' the Coyo community said in its court filing. - Reuters
