Taking the lead: First Solar Inc. (FSLR)

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) stock jumped 1.20% on Thursday to $200.94 against a previous-day closing price of $198.55. With 1.49 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 3.04 million shares. During the session, the Solar company that operates in wider Technology sector, reached to the highest price of $202.12 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $196.48. The 52-week range on FSLR shows that it touched its highest point at $232.00 and its lowest point at $60.77 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $217.53. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.41.

Price Performance and Earnings:

Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of FSLR was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -2.59%, but this was up by 0.72% over a month. Three-month performance surged to 23.91% while six-month performance rose 19.85%. The stock gained 211.10% in the past year, while it has gained 34.15% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for FSLR yields 0.39 with Next year EPS estimates of 12.99. For the next quarter, that number is 1.17. This implies an EPS growth rate of -109.50% for this year and 79.16% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 5.64% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of -16.80%.

Float and Shares Shorts:

At present, 106.67 million FSLR shares are outstanding with a float of 101.07 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 3.61 million, which was 3.38% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. Mark R. Widmar as the firm’s CEO & Director, Mr. Alexander R. Bradley serves as its Chief Financial Officer.

Institutional Ownership:

Through their ownership of 84.94% of FSLR’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 54.82% of FSLR, in contrast to 39.07% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 27.49%. As the largest shareholder in FSLR with 10.50% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 11,189,589 shares worth 11,189,589. A second-largest stockholder of FSLR, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 7,398,879 shares, controlling over 6.94% of the firm’s shares. Fidelity Management & Research Co is the third largest shareholder in FSLR, holding 4,450,153 shares or 4.17% stake. With a 2.95% stake in FSLR, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 3,144,980 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard 500 Index Fund, which owns about 2.18% of FSLR stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 2,326,934 shares valued at 424.85 million. iShares II Plc – Global Clean Ene holds 2.02% of the stake in FSLR, owning 2,149,619 shares worth 392.48 million.

An Overview of Recent Financials:

Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Mar 30, 2023, FSLR reported revenue of $620.96M and operating income of -$100.55M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$99.56M and diluted EPS was $0.52.

Analysts Ratings:

Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for FSLR since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With FSLR analysts setting a high price target of $277.00 and a low target of $170.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $223.66. Based on these targets, FSLR could surge 37.85% to reach the target high and fall by -15.4% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 11.31% from current levels.

EPS: Estimates vs Actual

It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.

Summary of Insider Activity:

Insiders traded FSLR stock several times over the past three months with 60 Buys and 64 Sells. In these transactions, 275,813 shares were bought while 156,825 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 100 while that of sell transactions has risen to 86 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 303,835 while 214,533 shares were sold.