The lithium industry has been a tough place to invest in recent times.
But if you believe that the tide will soon change, then it could be worth taking a look at the three ASX lithium stocks listed below.
That's because they have been named as buys and tipped to rise materially from current levels. Here's what analysts are saying about them:
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Arcadium Lithium (ASX: LTM)
Bell Potter remains very positive on this lithium giant. It likes the miner due to its diversified operations, which provide exposure to various lithium types. In addition, it highlights the company's strong production growth potential. It said:
LTM provides the largest, most diversified exposure to lithium in terms of mode of upstream production, asset locations, downstream processing and customer markets. It is a key large-cap leverage to lithium prices and sentiment, which we expect to improve over the medium term. The group has a strong balance sheet and growth portfolio.
The broker has a buy rating and $9.50 price target on its shares. This implies potential upside of approximately 85% for investors.
IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO)
Over at Goldman Sachs, its analysts are positive on battery materials miner IGO despite being bearish on lithium.
The broker likes IGO due to the low costs of its Greenbushes operation. It feels this leaves IGO well-positioned in the current environment of low prices. It commented:
Greenbushes is the lowest cost lithium asset in our coverage. Production growth more than offsets increasing strip ratio: The addition of CGP3 (under construction) and CGP4 (planned) should take Greenbushes production capacity from ~1.5Mtpa today to ~2.4Mtpa (excluding tailings processing of ~0.3Mtpa), and they are planned to be funded from existing Greenbushes debt facilities, combined with Greenbushes cash flows (though we factor in below nameplate). We reiterate our belief that further Greenbushes expansion remains one of the most economically compelling brownfield lithium projects.
Goldman Sachs has a buy rating and $8.10 price target on IGO's shares. If the ASX lithium stock rose to that level, it would mean a return of 35%.
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR)
Analysts at Bell Potter are also very positive on this lithium developer which is on the cusp of becoming a fully-fledged miner.
Liontown's Kathleen Valley (KV) lithium project is due to begin roaring in the middle of the year, which means it is perhaps just weeks away from producing the battery making ingredient.
Bell Potter thinks very highly of the KV project. It said:
100% owned KV lithium project remains highly strategic in terms of its stage of development, long mine life and location. LTR has offtake contracts with top tier EV and battery OEMs (Ford, LG Energy Solution and Tesla). Hancock Prospecting has a 19.9% interest in LTR. LTR is an asset development company; our Speculative risk rating recognises this higher level of risk.
The broker currently has a speculative buy rating and $1.85 price target on the ASX lithium stock. This suggests that upside of 85% is possible from current levels.
