The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price was on form again in August.
During the month, the lithium miner's shares smashed the market with a sizeable gain of 25%.
This means that Pilbara Minerals shares are now up over 150% since the start of the year.
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Why did the Pilbara Minerals share price race higher in August?
There were a number of catalysts giving the Pilbara Minerals share price a boost last month.
This includes strong lithium prices, the release of its full year results for FY 2021, positive broker notes, and the results of the lithium miner's inaugural battery materials exchange (BMX) auction.
In respect to its results, in FY 2021 Pilbara Minerals reported a 142% increase in shipments to 281,440 dry metric tonnes (dmt). This underpinned a 108.9% increase in revenue to $175.8 million.
Management's forecast for the year ahead also appears to have given investor sentiment a lift. It is forecasting shipments of 440,000 to 490,000 dmt for the year. This will be a 56.3% to 74.1% increase on FY 2021's shipments. Which bodes well for its sales in FY 2022, especially given how strong lithium prices have been this year.
Bullish brokers
Also helping drive the Pilbara Minerals share price higher last month was a bullish broker note out of Macquarie.
That note reveals that its analysts have retained their outperform rating and lifted their price target on the company's shares to $2.70.
Based on the latest Pilbara Minerals share price, this implies potential upside of almost 22% over the next 12 months.
Macquarie is very positive on the company due to its favourable outlook for lithium prices and Pilbara Minerals' long term production growth potential. The broker believes the company can grow its production by an average of 20% per annum over the next seven years.
