Back to top

Image: Bigstock

First Solar (FSLR) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

First Solar (FSLR - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $83.02, moving +0.29% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.08% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.56%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.42%.

Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. solar company had lost 9.23% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector gained 10.22%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.22%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from First Solar as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect First Solar to post earnings of $1.07 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 0.93%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $906.43 million, up 48.78% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for First Solar. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.35% lower. First Solar currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, First Solar currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 39.65. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 39.13, which means First Solar is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that FSLR currently has a PEG ratio of 3.67. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Solar stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.88 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Solar industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 189, which puts it in the bottom 26% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) - free report >>

Published in