In the latest trading session, First Solar (FSLR) closed at $177.06, marking a -4.31% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.79% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.94%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.92%.
The stock of largest U.S. solar company has risen by 11.23% in the past month, leading the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 6.03% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.22%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of First Solar in its upcoming release. On that day, First Solar is projected to report earnings of $2.63 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 19.08%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $1.01 billion, indicating a 0.34% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $14.51 per share and a revenue of $4.89 billion, demonstrating changes of +20.72% and +16.33%, respectively, from the preceding year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for First Solar. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.15% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. First Solar presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that First Solar has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.75 right now. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 17.16.
One should further note that FSLR currently holds a PEG ratio of 0.37. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Solar industry stood at 0.63 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Solar industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 73, placing it within the top 30% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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First Solar, Inc. (FSLR): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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