- Lithium Americas (LAC -1.3%) wins a bullish call from B. Riley analyst Lucas Pipes, who initiates coverage with a Buy rating and $25 price target, citing the miner's "compelling" Thacker Pass project in Nevada.
- Pipes believes domestic projects offer several inherent advantages over overseas imports, particularly lower freight rates and sourcing risk, which will lead to local lithium projects such as Thacker Pass outperforming foreign suppliers in the long run.
- The analyst's $25 target is based on his assumption that lithium carbonate prices will average $11K per metric ton; current pricing is ~$13K/mt in China, up 140% over the past six months.
- Cowen preferred Albemarle, Lynas and MP Materials when it recently initiated coverage of lithium and rare earth sectors.