ALB

Albemarle Corporation

A global specialty chemicals maker, Albemarle is one of the world's largest producers of lithium — the metal that powers electric-vehicle and phone batteries — alongside bromine compounds and industrial catalysts used across auto, electronics, and energy industries. Its roots go back to an 1887 Richmond paper mill that famously "swallowed a whale" by buying the much larger Ethyl Corporation in 1962, and the modern Albemarle was spun off from that chemical giant in 1994. Fun fact: the founders simply picked "Albemarle" because the syllables pleased one founder's ear.