ASX lithium stocks were some of the hottest shares on the ASX markets last year. Lithium stocks like Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) and Novonix Ltd (ASX: NVX) managed to give investors returns of over 200%. In Novonix's case, it was a return north of 600%.
So as we are about to enter the third month of 2022, and with earnings season wrapping up, it might be a good time to see how these lithium stocks have fared more recently.
Firstly, let's check out the ASX's lithium poster child, Pilbara Minerals. Pilbara is the ASX's largest pureplay lithium stock. With its market capitalisation of close to $8.5 billion, it is now a major ASX 200 player.
Well, Pilbara only reported its earnings earlier today, as it turns out. The company divulged a very impressive 394% increase in revenue to $291.7 million, which helped to deliver a massive surge in earnings from $3.2 million to $151.1 million. It seemed that investors weren't initially sure how to take these numbers, but the Pilbara share price finished the day up 2.15% at $2.85 a share. Unfortunately, that still puts it down 19% in 2022 so far.
ASX lithium stocks make big moves
Turning to Novonix, and this battery company runs on a different schedule to most ASX shares, and has yet to report its half-yearly earnings for FY2022. However, investors did seem buoyed today, perhaps due to Pilbara's earnings. Novonix shares ended up finishing the day up a healthy 5.37% at $5.30 each. However, this ASX lithium stock has also had a rough 2022, and is now down a nasty 49.6% year to date. But even so, it remains up 61.1% over the past 12 months.
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) is another ASX lithium stock that hasn't been reported this earnings season. However, the company made waves a couple of weeks ago when it announced a major supply deal with the famous US battery and electric vehicle company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) for lithium spodumene concentrate. However, Liontown shares are also down significantly in 2022, losing more than 18% since the start of the year. That's despite today's gain of 7.2%.
AVZ Minerals Ltd (ASX: AVZ) is the final lithium stock to check out today. We also haven't heard from AVZ this reporting season. However, the company recently announced that an agreement with Suzhou CATH Energy Technologies had been expediated for its joint lithium project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. AVZ shares were also up significantly today, by 9.03% at 78 cents a share. Even though AVZ remains down 10.8% year to date in 2022 so far, it's still up more than 330% over the past year.
