Thursday, February 24, 2011

Corrected: First Solar Misses on Revs, Beats on Earnings, Guides Higher, Stock Down (FSLR)

The stock is down $72.28 $7.28 (sorry 'bout that, call it chair aerobics to test your HRmax and drop us a check for the cardio) after closing up $1.68 in the regular session. I won't be on the conference call so will have to go by the transcript tomorrow. Gut call: the stock trades higher.
First up Tech Trader Daily:
Solar energy technology provider First Solar (FSLR) this afternoon reported Q4 revenue below analysts’ estimates but beat on the bottom line. The company reduced the top end of its year revenue view while raising its year profit estimate.

First Solar stock is currently down $4.87, or almost 3%, at $159.81 in late trading.
Q4 revenue fell 5%, year over year, to $610 million, yielding EPS of $1.80. Analysts had been expecting $648 million and $1.77 per share.

First Solar attributed the decline in revenue of $188 million from Q3 to “due to the timing of system sales and the December implementation of 2011 pricing, partially offset by an increase in volume.”
For the full year, First Solar cut the top end of its projected revenue range, forecasting $3.7 billion to $3.8 billion in revenue versus a prior forecast of $3.7 billion to $3.9 billion offered back in December....MORE
From StreetInsider:

First Solar (FSLR) Shares Drop on Mixed Q4 Results; Guides Strong FY11 EPS
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) shares are down more than 4 percent in extended trade on Thursday after the company posted mixed fourth-quarter results and guides full-year earnings ahead of the Street.

The solar equipment maker reported fourth-quarter earnings of $1.80 per share, 4 cents better than the analyst estimate of $1.76 per share.

Revenue for the company fell to $609.8 million from $641.3 million in the same period last year, missing the market consensus of $647.8 million.

The company said that module manufacturing costs int he fourth quarter fell 11 percent to 75c/watt.

“In the fourth quarter the operations team executed well, and we sold 400 MW of projects in North America, positioning us to achieve our 2011 growth goals,” said Rob Gillette, CEO of First Solar. “We have good demand visibility in 2011 and a broader geographic reach, which gives us confidence in our ability to sell the 2 GW that we plan to produce.”

Looking forward, the company sees full-year 2011 earnings in the range of $9.25-$9.75 per share, topping the estimate of $9.10 per share....