The Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) share price is gaining quietly today and, at the time of writing, is 0.36% higher at $9.735.
After a solid period last year, the Allkem share price is struggling in 2022, down 7% this year to date.
However, one broker is heavily bullish on the lithium company and reckons there's plenty more upside potential for investors to bite into.
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Can Allkem climb another 28% this year?
Analysts at Swiss investment bank UBS expect Allkem to deliver a strong result this year that should bode well for its share price.
The broker reckons Allkem will secure higher pricing for its lithium products and this should translate to higher earnings in 2022.
Considering that spodumene and lithium prices have soared 63% and 85% respectively this year already, the broker notes Allkem's earnings should benefit.
Further, the company's guidance on lithium carbonate pricing is for US$25,000 per tonne, a step ahead of the UBS forecast of US$23,000 a tonne.
This comes as Allkem renegotiated a one-third split in prices for its long-term carbonate contracts. This could lead to a phasing out of fixed prices.
UBS notes that Allkem's "realisation is improving structurally" and that "spot prices are maintaining particularly high levels, which is likely to see strong upward moves in Allkem's realised prices through the year".
The Swiss broker is bullish on Allkem, rating it a buy and valuing the company at $12.40 per share. That signals a 28% upside potential at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, the bulk of analysts covering Allkem also have it as a buy with more than 83% of brokers urging their clients to purchase the stock, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The consensus price target is $13.55.
This is substantially higher than for the same time last year. Then only 46% of analysts were saying to buy the stock and 7% were advising to sell.
As of today, there are no brokers advocating to sell Allkem, according to Bloomberg.
Allkem share price snapshot
In the last 12 months, the Allkem share price has surged more than 114% but has faltered almost 7% this year to date.
During the past month though, the company's shares have reversed course after adding almost 11% in gains during the past week of trading.
