First Solar

[Lateralus]

If you've followed solar power generation at all, you've probably heard of First Solar. This company has a few hundred megawatts of solar cells up and running, right now. They currently have enough production capacity to bring ~700 MW online each year.

I'm intrigued, especially after reading through some of their financials. They had a profit margin of over 30% in 2007. I'm curious to see how they did in 2008 (numbers come out on 2/24/09).

FSLR: Summary for First Solar, Inc. - Yahoo! Finance

2007 annual report

This company seems like it may have a lot of potential with Obama as president. We're likely to see the cost of coal generated electricity increase, and I also think we're more likely to see solar power subsidized than we would have under McCain.

 

[Lateralus]

From wikipedia:

Market Performance

According to the company's third quarter 2008 financial results, earnings per share were $1.20 and Q3 revenue totaled $348.7 million. The market had predicted Q3 earnings per share of $1.02, and revenue of $340.93.[17] [18] As quoted in a November 2008 article from Fortune Magazine , Jenny Chase, a senior analyst with New Energy Finance, says First Solar is "Run by managers who are fanatics about meeting goals and avoiding unnecessary costs, First Solar routinely blows away both its own and the Street's targets…They come in at over 100% of projected capacity." [19] While much of the credit for First Solar's success can attributed to its management, the low cost of its solar modules has been the key to its performance. "Manufacturing cost per watt for the third quarter was $1.08, with a gross margin of 56.1%.[20] [21] Start-ups in other technologies, e.g., HelioVolt in CIGS, often claim one dollar per watt and lower costs but have no production or demonstrated products. First Solar is expected to continue to lower costs[22]. First Solar's use of cadmium telluride over silicon or CIGS photovoltaic technologies have allowed it to achieve this significantly lower price point, especially compared to crystalline-silicon PV which averages $2.90 per watt.[23]

First Solar's CEO is Michael Ahearn.

 

[entropie]

I heard of the company and I think they work closely in the B2B sector together with companies, who need alot of electricity to power their plants. The thing is solar technology is getting cheaper and cheaper, therefore they can really make the big money in the next years.

Definitly intresting company for potential shareholder or upcoming new engineers

 

[Lateralus]

When I first looked at their financial statements, I expected to see nothing but losses. Instead, this company is far from being in the red and continues to increase its earnings and profit margin. The management is supposedly obsessed with keeping costs down. I know solar power still gets subsidized, but if any company is going to break through the self-sufficiency barrier, I think it could be this one.

I'm not sold on them as a good investment, right now. Their stock still appears to be overpriced. Or I could be wrong and they could become the Standard Oil of solar power.