First Solar (FSLR) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
First Solar (FSLR) closed at $206.74 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.96% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.45% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 2.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 5.41%.
Coming into today, shares of the largest U.S. solar company had gained 21.65% in the past month. In that same time, the Oils-Energy sector lost 5.11%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.53%.
First Solar will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.24, up 138.46% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $766.15 million, up 23.38% from the prior-year quarter.
FSLR's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.33 per share and revenue of $3.46 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +1887.8% and +32.09%, respectively.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for First Solar. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-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. 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.
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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.07% lower. First Solar is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, First Solar currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 28.47. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 27.47, which means First Solar is trading at a premium to the group.
The Solar industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 84, which puts it in the top 34% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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 Report
