ROCE Insights For First Solar

Looking at Q2, First Solar FSLR posted a total of $642.41 million in sales, a 20.73% increase since Q1. First Solar sales totaled $532.12 million in Q1.

What Is ROCE?

Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in First Solar’s Return on Capital Employed, a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed in a business. Generally, a higher ROCE suggests successful growth in a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share for shareholders in the future. In Q2, First Solar posted an ROCE of 0.01%.

It is important to keep in mind ROCE evaluates past performance and is not used as a predictive tool. It is a good measure of a company's recent performance, but several factors could affect earnings and sales in the near future.

ROCE is an important metric for the comparison of similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows First Solar is potentially operating at a higher level of efficiency than other companies in its industry. If the company is generating high profits with its current level of capital, some of that money can be reinvested in more capital which will lead to higher returns and earnings per share growth.

In First Solar's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions.

Q2 Earnings Recap

First Solar reported Q2 earnings per share at $0.39/share, which did not meet analyst predictions of $0.23/share.