First Solar Reports Mixed Q4 Results: EPS Beat, Revenue Miss

First Solar, Inc. FSLR reported its fourth-quarter financial results after the bell Tuesday. Here's a look at the highlights. 

The Details: First Solar reported quarterly earnings of $3.25 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $3.18 by 2.2%.

Quarterly sales clocked in at $1.16 billion which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.32 billion by 12.09% and is a 15.62% increase over sales of $1 billion from the same period last year.

Cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, restricted cash equivalents and marketable securities, less debt increased to $1.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter from $1.3 billion at the end of the third quarter. The increase was primarily a result of operating cash flows, offset by capital expenditures related to manufacturing capacity expansions in Alabama, Ohio, Louisiana and India.

“Few years have been as consequential to our long-term growth strategy as 2023,” said Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar.

“Over the past year, we scaled manufacturing capacity, mobilized at our latest announced facility in Louisiana, produced and shipped a record volume of modules, expanded our contracted backlog to historic levels, increased R&D investment, and continued to evolve our technology and product roadmap,” Widmar added.

Outlook: First Solar sees 2024 earnings per share of between $13 and $14, versus the $13.33 estimate. The company expects net sales for 2024 in a range of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion and operating income of between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion.

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FSLR Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, First Solar shares are trading up 5.21% after-hours at $152.55 at the time of publication.

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