The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price has jumped ahead in May, but could it go higher?
The lithium miner's share price has leapt 7% since the first trading day in May from $2.77 to the current share price of $2.975. In today's trade, the company's share price is currently down 0.17%.
Let's take a look at the outlook for Pilbara Minerals.
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Is the Pilbara Minerals share price a buy?
Pilbara Minerals is a lithium producer working on the Pilgangoora Lithium Tantalum Project near Port Hedland in Western Australia.
Broker Macquarie has recently retained an outperform rating on the company and placed a $4 price target on the Pilbara Minerals share price. This is a 34% upside on the share price at the time of writing.
Macquarie analysts updated their outlook for Pilbara following the company's fifth spodumene concentrate auction on the Battery Metal's Exchange (BMX).
The company received strong interest with a winning bid of US$5,955 per dry metric tonne. As my Foolish colleague James reported, Macquarie noted this was much higher than predicted. The broker also highlighted lithium prices are well above forecasts, which could mean a revision to the company's earnings estimates.
Back in 2021, Pilbara Minerals accepted a bid of US$1,250 per tonne on the BMX. This means prices have increased 376% since this date.
Meanwhile, Pilbara Minerals was among the three most traded ASX 200 shares on Monday, my Foolish colleague Sebastian reported. More than 30.6 million Pilbara shares swapped hands on the market yesterday.
Pilbara recently received a $20 million grant from the Federal Government. This will be used towards a joint venture with Calix Ltd (ASX: CXL) to develop the chemicals facility at Pilgangoora to produce lithium salts.
Share price snapshot
The Pilbara Minerals share price has surged 140% in the past year, but has fallen around 7.5% this year to date.
For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) has jumped 5% over the past 12 months and almost 8% this year.
Pilbara Minerals has a market capitalisation of about $8.8 billion.
