The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price gained 4.01% in May.
That's a particularly strong result for a month that saw the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) lose 2.98%.
The ASX 200 lithium stock closed out April trading for $4.24 per share. At market close on the final day of trading yesterday, Pilbara Minerals shares finished trading for $4.41 apiece.
Here's how the Pilbara Minerals share price managed to outpace the ASX 200.
What went right for the ASX 200 lithium stock in May?
We saw a radically different performance from the lithium stock in the first three trading weeks of the month compared to what we saw in the final week and a half.
On 19 May, the Pilbara Minerals share price closed the day at $4.99. Shares were then up a lofty 18.2% since April's close.
But the stock came under selling pressure after that, sliding 11.3% over the final eight trading days of May.
In the earlier weeks of May, Pilbara benefited from a rebounding lithium price.
Having crashed more than 70% from the 2022 highs, the price for the battery critical metal hit bottom on 24 April and continued to gain into May.
ASX lithium stocks broadly enjoyed a boost from some bullish forecasts for the lithium price.
Early in May, research company Antaike, for example, came out with a forecast for lithium carbonate prices to average around US$33,828 per tonne in 2023. At the time battery-grade lithium carbonate was trading for US$27,065 per tonne.
CRU head of battery rare materials Martin Jackson noted:
Demand was showing softness early in the year, but we're still expecting a relatively tight market for the year on average and that's because of much stronger demand from EV sales later in the year.
The Pilbara Minerals share price also got a big boost on 11 May, closing the day up 5.1%.
That came on the heels of news that fellow ASX 200 lithium stock Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) was planning to merge with US lithium company Livent Corp (NYSE: LTHM) to create a $15.7 billion global lithium chemicals producer.
The higher lithium price forecasts and merger potential excitement looks to have worn off towards the end of the month, though.
Even news coming out of the G7 convention on 20 May that US President Joe Biden planned to have Australia added as a "domestic source" of critical minerals under the US Defense Production Act. failed to rouse investor spirits.
"We are going to establish climate and energy as the third pillar of the Australia-US alliance," Biden said from Hiroshima, Japan.
"This will enable the expansion and diversification of clean energy supply chains, especially as it relates to critical materials," he added.
Pilbara Minerals share price snapshot
With a solid run in May, the Pilbara Minerals share price is now up 49.5% over the past 12 months.
