ASX lithium shares have been the market darlings of 2022 but some brokers' enthusiasm is starting to wane — at least on some of them.
Let's take a look at which lithium shares remain in favour and which ones the experts recommend selling.
The ASX lithium shares to buy
According to The Australian, UBS reckons Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) is the pick of the ASX lithium shares right now. It has a buy rating on Allkem as well as Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN).
According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Jarden Securities also likes Allkem and Mineral Resources.
Jarden rates Allkem a buy with a 12-month share price target of $17.71. That implies an upside of about 30% based on the closing Allkem share price of $13.65 on Wednesday. Allkem is up 3.41% today.
Jarden also has a buy rating on Leo Lithium Ltd (ASX: LLL) with a share price target of $1.19. That implies an upside of about 54% based on Leo Lithium's closing share price of 54.5 cents, up 5.83% today.
Jarden also has an overweight rating on Mineral Resources shares. The Mineral Resources share price closed at $87.42 today, up 4.36% for the day.
The ASX lithium shares to sell
Both UBS and Jarden have sell ratings on Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS).
Many brokers have flagged recently that it's probably time for investors to cash in on the meteoric rise of the Pilbara Minerals share price. It has almost doubled in value in just six months.
Today, Pilbara Minerals shares finished at $4.66, up 3.79%. Jarden has a 12-month share price target of $3.65 on the stock, implying a potential downside of 22%
Jarden also rates Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares a sell. The Core Lithium share price has crashed by 30% in 12 days.
However, even taking this recent decline into account, the shares are up by more than 110% in 2022 overall.
What's going on with lithium prices?
As my Fool colleague Bernd writes today, investors are worried that lithium commodity prices are due for a correction. The mineral hit record prices earlier this month and they have gradually fallen since.
This is largely due to China, which is the world's top producer of electric vehicles (EVs) and thus a big buyer of lithium.
Soaring COVID-19 cases in China, the government's zero-COVID policy, ongoing lockdowns, and a slowdown in EV sales are causing market ructions for the commodity itself, as well as ASX lithium shares.
