First Solar (FSLR) Lags Q4 Earnings Estimates

Core Insights - First Solar reported quarterly earnings of $3.65 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.64 per share, but showing an increase from $3.25 per share a year ago, resulting in an earnings surprise of -21.34% [1] - The company posted revenues of $1.51 billion for the quarter ended December 2024, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.98%, compared to $1.16 billion in the same quarter last year [2] - First Solar shares have declined approximately 13.2% year-to-date, contrasting with the S&P 500's gain of 1.7% [3] Earnings Outlook - The current consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming quarter is $3.73 on revenues of $1.08 billion, and for the current fiscal year, it is $20.37 on revenues of $5.46 billion [7] - The estimate revisions trend for First Solar is mixed, leading to a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold), indicating expected performance in line with the market in the near future [6] Industry Context - The solar industry is currently ranked in the top 30% of over 250 Zacks industries, suggesting that stocks in the top 50% outperform those in the bottom 50% by more than 2 to 1 [8] - Sunnova Energy, another company in the solar industry, is expected to report a quarterly loss of $0.81 per share, reflecting a year-over-year change of -305%, with revenues anticipated to be $234.53 million, up 20.8% from the previous year [9][10]