First Solar (FSLR) climbs after topping Q4 earnings expectations, delivers solid guidance
First Solar’s (NASDAQ: FSLR) shares climbed 3.8% in premarket trading Wednesday following the release of the company’s FQ4 earnings, which topped analyst expectations.
The solar energy firm posted earnings per share (EPS of $3.25 in the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15. However, revenue came in at $1.16 billion, short of the anticipated $1.31 billion.
Looking ahead, First Solar has set its full-year 2024 earnings guidance to range between $13.00 and $14.00 per share, slightly below the analyst consensus of $13.33.
The company also projects its 2024 revenue to be between $4.4 billion and $4.6 billion, compared to the $4.56 billion anticipated by analysts.
Its gross margin for the year is estimated to range from $2.0 billion to $2.1 billion.
“Few years have been as consequential to our long-term growth strategy as 2023,” said Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar.
“Over the past year, we scaled manufacturing capacity, mobilized at our latest announced facility in Louisiana, produced and shipped a record volume of modules, expanded our contracted backlog to historic levels, increased R&D investment, and continued to evolve our technology and product roadmap,” he added.
Evercore ISI analysts maintained their price target of $227, citing a strong outlook for FSLR amid "solid execution and pricing momentum."
"We continue to believe that First Solar is one of the U.S. solar manufacturers best positioned for the IRA provisions, especially the domestic content adder," analysts led by James West said in a note.
Goldman Sachs shared this bullish sentiment, commending FSLR's pricing strength despite subdued bookings.
Net/net, we see this pricing strength as indicative of FSLR’s ability to achieve domestic content premium as well as supply certainty for its customers, while illustrating FSLR’s commitment to pricing discipline," analysts led by Brian Lee said.
"We note pricing concerns remain a key bear thesis on FSLR and thus see 4Q23’s results and potential for pricing to remain stable through 2024 as a positive catalyst in this context," they added.
By Vahid Karaahmetovic