First Solar (FSLR) closed the most recent trading day at $159.81, moving +0.28% from the previous trading session. The stock’s performance was ahead of the S&P 500’s daily gain of 0.01%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.22%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.32%.
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Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. solar company had gained 25.73% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 4.32%, while the S&P 500 gained 5.2%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of First Solar in its upcoming release. On that day, First Solar is projected to report earnings of $2.66 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 18.15%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $1.01 billion, indicating a 0.4% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $14.53 per share and a revenue of $4.88 billion, indicating changes of +20.88% and +15.99%, respectively, from the former year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for First Solar should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there’s been a 0.68% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. First Solar presently features a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, First Solar is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 10.97. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 15.01, which means First Solar is trading at a discount to the group.
We can additionally observe that FSLR currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.32. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company’s anticipated earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Solar industry was having an average PEG ratio of 0.55.
