analysts at ubs upgraded their rating on shares of albemarle corp to buy on thursday saying that the lithium miner’s stock price is now at an “attractive entry point” after a decline of more than 18 in recent months lithium prices and battery production in china are transitioning to a “much higher floor” than previous cycles supporting the analysts’ view that lithium a metal that is crucial to current battery technologies will fetch higher prices in at least the medium term albemarle alb is a “leader” in the sector the ubs analysts said earlier this month tesla inc tsla broke ground on its new lithiumrefining plant in texas the plant would be the largest of its kind in north america and it is expected to produce enough batterygrade lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 no other north american automaker refines its own lithium tesla chief executive elon musk has often called attention to lithium mining saying that despite lithium being a common metal on earth there are barriers to production australia chile and china are the top three lithium producers but china leads in lithium refining by a large margin shares of albemarle have lost 18 in the past three months contrasting with gains of about 2 for the sp 500 index spx in the same period in the year to date the stock has lost 3 versus an advance of nearly 9 for the index