First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) stock fell -1.67% on Friday to $174.05 against a previous-day closing price of $177.00. With 3.25 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 1.98 million shares. During the session, the Solar company that operates in wider Technology sector, reached to the highest price of $177.64 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $171.68. The 52-week range on FSLR shows that it touched its highest point at $232.00 and its lowest point at $115.66 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $246.01. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.40.
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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 -5.00%, but this was down by -9.30% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -9.76% while six-month performance fell -15.74%. The stock gained 28.20% in the past year, while it has gained 16.20% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for FSLR yields 1.46 with Next year EPS estimates of 13.22. For the next quarter, that number is 2.17. This implies an EPS growth rate of -109.50% for this year and 71.98% 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, 106.83 million FSLR shares are outstanding with a float of 101.22 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 3.22 million, which was 3.01% higher than short shares on Jul 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:
Other institutions hold 57.52% of FSLR, in contrast to 38.92% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 29.51%. As the largest shareholder in FSLR with 10.62% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 11,348,390 shares worth 11,348,390. A second-largest stockholder of FSLR, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 6,999,504 shares, controlling over 6.55% of the firm’s shares. JPMorgan Investment Management, I is the third largest shareholder in FSLR, holding 5,417,195 shares or 5.07% stake. With a 3.84% stake in FSLR, the JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund is the largest stakeholder. A total of 4,097,502 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which owns about 2.96% of FSLR stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 3,158,574 shares valued at 597.35 million. Vanguard 500 Index Fund holds 2.24% of the stake in FSLR, owning 2,392,481 shares worth 452.47 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 Jun 29, 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 $330.00 and a low target of $206.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $249.10. Based on these targets, FSLR could surge 89.6% to reach the target high and rise by 18.36% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 43.12% 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 12 Buys and 30 Sells. In these transactions, 3,549 shares were bought while 31,562 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 95 while that of sell transactions has risen to 101 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 286,196 while 248,642 shares were sold.
