Top 5 US Lithium Stocks (Updated November 2022)

Year-to-date gain: 233.55 percent; market capitalization: US$3.56 billion; current share price: US$35.39

In Minas Gerais, Brazil, Sigma Lithium has its Grota do Cirilo hard-rock lithium project, where it is currently constructing Phase 1 operations with expected commissioning by year-end 2022. Sigma anticipates Phase 1 production of 270,000 metric tons (MT) annually and Phase 2 production of 531,000 MT. Additionally, Sigma is building its greentech dense media separation production plant, which will make its operations vertically integrated. On February 24, the company was recognized by the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) as part of its “Top 50 Stocks for 10 Scarcity Themes.”

On May 26, Sigma filed a consolidated technical report that looks at two initial production phases for Grota do Cirilo. The integrated operation would source feedstock spodumene ore from the company's Phase 1 and Phase 2 lithium deposits to produce battery-grade, high-purity lithium concentrate. After-tax net production revenue is pegged at US$5.1 billion, while the after-tax internal rate of return is 589 percent; this expansion scenario "will potentially position (Sigma) as the world’s fourth largest lithium producer."

Most recently, Sigma shared an update on its “transformative” Q2, mentioning the previously announced news that it has increased the resource at Grota do Cirilo by 50 percent; a Phase 3 technical report has now been filed. Additionally, as of the announcement, total construction progress at the project stood at 32 percent. The company's most recent news came on September 15, when it appointed Dana Perlman as an independent director. Its share price has continued to grow throughout the year, reaching a year-to-date high of US$37.46 on October 27 after starting the year at US$10.57.

Year-to-date gain: 83.23 percent; market capitalization: US$24.96 billion; current share price: US$93.76

SQM is one of the world’s largest lithium companies. It produces lithium out of Chile’s Salar de Atacama and brings it to the market in the form of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. SQM is developing the hard-rock Mount Holland lithium project in Australia through a joint venture with Wesfarmers (ASX:WES,OTC Pink:WFAFF). The company places a heavy emphasis on the sustainability of its operations, with a production process that involves 97.4 percent solar energy.

On March 2, SQM released its 2021 earnings report, including net income of US$585.5 million compared to US$164.5 million for 2020. SQM's share price spiked in May to hit US$90.21 on May 18, the same day the company announced both its Q1 earnings report and the approval of an interim dividend payment for investors. Its share price continued to rise through late May, reaching a year-to-date high of US$113.33. On August 17, SQM shared its Q2 and H1 earnings for this year. In H1, the company saw US$1.655 billion in net income, which was an increase of 940 percent over its US$157.8 million net income in H1 2021.

In September, SQM celebrated 25 years of lithium production in Chile, and reflected on its path to that point; it also shared its vision for the Salar Futuro project, which is focused on increasing the sustainability of extraction from the Salar de Atacama. Options being looked include advanced evaporation technologies and direct lithium extraction.

Year-to-date gain: 25.87 percent; market capitalization: US$5.62 billion; current share price: US$31.33

Livent is a global lithium producer with manufacturing facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. It creates lithium products that serve diverse markets, such as energy storage and battery systems, polymers, aerospace and pharmaceuticals.

In the second quarter, two pieces of news — Livent’s doubling of its ownership in Nemaska Lithium, bringing it to 50 percent, and its Q1 results — spurred a share price jump from US$21.37 on May 2 to US$28.55 on May 4. The company's Q1 results show revenue increases of 17 percent quarter-on-quarter and 56 percent year-on-year.

Shares later climbed to an H1 high of US$34.49 on May 27 after news of a collaboration between Livent and Lilium (NASDAQ:LILM) on the development of the first all-electric vertical takeoff and landing jet. The two companies will be working on research and development for "the advancement of lithium metal technology for use in high-performance battery cells."

Further significant news came in late July, when Livent signed an offtake agreement for battery-grade lithium hydroxide with General Motors (NYSE:GM); it will last six years and begin in 2025. As part of the deal, the two companies will work together to transition Livent’s lithium hydroxide processing for General Motors to North America. Most recently, Livent released its Q3 results, in which it discusses its expansion plans. According to the company, all are on track to be completed as planned, and higher capacity in Argentina alone will nearly double Livent's 2021 lithium carbonate equivalent production capacity by the end of 2023.

Year-to-date gain: 17.68 percent; market capitalization: US$32.69 billion; current share price: US$279

Albemarle is a lithium giant that produces lithium, bromine and catalyst solutions at operations around the world. It has a 49 percent interest in the company whose subsidiary, Talison Lithium, owns and runs the Greenbushes mine, as well as a 60 percent interest in Mineral Resources' (ASX:MIN,OTC Pink:MALRF) Wodgina mine. Both of these are hard-rock lithium mines in Western Australia. The company runs the Silver Peak lithium mine in Nevada, which it calls the only producing lithium mine in North America; it also creates high-quality lithium products. Its most significant lithium operations are at Chile’s Salar de Atacama.

On June 13, Albemarle inaugurated its third chemical conversion plant in Chile, which it said should double its lithium production, as well as lower water consumption by 30 percent per MT. At the end of August, Albemarle shared plans to create two global business units, one of which will focus on lithium. The company expects the units to be active as of January 1, 2023.

Albemarle received US$150 million on October 19 to help fund a commercial-scale lithium concentrator facility in North Carolina; the money came as part of the new US battery supply chain grant program. A week later, the company acquired Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Materials, which owns a lithium conversion facility that can convert 25,000 MT of lithium carbonate equivalent per year.

News continued for the company, which shared its Q3 results, including a gain of 318 percent in net lithium sales over 2021. Most recently, Albemarle announced it was investing up to US$540 million into its bromine operations in Arkansas, US. Its news over the last few weeks has driven its share price significantly, bringing it to a year-to-date high of US$320.77 on November 10.

Year-to-date gain: 16.49 percent; market capitalization: US$1.12 billion; current share price: US$62.52

Based in the US state of North Carolina, Piedmont Lithium is focused on producing lithium hydroxide from spodumene ore in order to provide companies with a lithium hydroxide source outside of China, and it hopes to aid in the creation of an American battery supply chain. In addition to its fully integrated Carolina lithium project, the company also has properties in Canada and Ghana.

Piedmont’s share price spent March trending upwards, and it hit a year-to-date high of US$78.39 on April 4. Although its share price plunged in mid-May, Piedmont has since made up for most of those losses.

Piedmont announced in September that it plans to create largest US lithium hydroxide plant in Tennessee, which it will feed using lithium concentrate from its international investments. The company later received a US$141.7 million grant for the Tennessee lithium project from the US government as part of the aforementioned grant program for a domestic battery supply chain.

Piedmont has also recently shared news from its partner companies. Sayona Quebec, which is 25 percent owned by Piedmont and 75 percent owned by Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA,OTCQB:SYAXF), began a prefeasibility study for its North American Lithium operation in Quebec, Canada. Atlantic Lithium (ASX:A11,LSE:ALL,OTCQX:ALLIF) just completed drilling at its flagship Ewoyaa project in Ghana, with results confirming high-grade mineralization. Piedmont has a 50 percent interest in the project, as well as a 50 percent offtake agreement, and anticipates using the lithium spodumene concentrate from the asset at its Tennessee operation.