Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) shares enjoyed another day in the green on Wednesday.
When the closing bell rang, shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) lithium stock were changing hands for $3.43 apiece, down 0.15%.
For some context, the ASX 200 also closed the day just about flat.
While Pilbara Minerals shares are now 'only' up about 9.5% over 12 months, the stock has been racing higher since plumbing four-year closing lows of $1.14 a share on 3 June.
At Wednesday's close, that marks a gain of 200% in just over five months. Or enough to turn an $8,000 investment in early June into around $24,000 today.
Boom!
But with those kinds of outsized gains already in the bag, is the ASX 200 lithium stock still a good buy today?
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Should you buy Pilbara Minerals shares today?
Baker Young's Toby Grimm recently ran his slide rule over the Aussie lithium miner (courtesy of The Bull).
"The lithium miner's latest quarterly results highlight why we view PLS as our preferred lithium exposure," said Grimm.
"The company showed exceptional cost control. Mining costs fell 13% at the same time as the average price it received rose by 20%, driving a major boost in operating profit," he noted.
Indeed, Pilbara Minerals shares closed up 9.1% on 24 October, the day the miner reported its first-quarter (Q1 FY2026) results.
Other key results included a 2% quarter-on-quarter increase in spodumene production to 224,800 tonnes. And with the company achieving a 20% increase in its average realised price for the lithium-bearing mineral, September quarterly revenue of $251 million was up 30% from the prior quarter.
Then there's the miner's strong balance sheet.
According to Grimm:
Pilbara has already achieved highly competitive scale and has more than $1 billion in cash on the balance sheet to fund material output growth should an anticipated lithium recovery take shape in coming years.
But following the big uptick in the share price, Grimm currently has a hold recommendation on Pilbara Minerals shares.
What's happening with global lithium prices?
Atop its own operational successes, Pilbara Minerals shares have caught significant headwinds from the rebounding lithium price, which is now up around 38% from late June's multi-year lows.
And according to global investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), growing demand for EVs and the rapid rollout of large-scale battery storage systems are likely to drive a sustained boost in prices in 2026 and 2027.
"After what was looking like a soft few years ahead for lithium prices, energy storage battery shipments have shown massive growth year-to-date," Lyndon Fagan, JPMorgan's head of basic materials research, said.
The bank has boosted its forecast for spodumene prices to between US$1,100 and US$1,200 per tonne for 2026 and 2027, up from its prior forecast of US$800 per tonne.
