First Solar (FSLR) closed the most recent trading day at $77.70, moving -0.87% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.69%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.78%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.28%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. solar company had lost 11.52% over the past month. This has lagged the Oils-Energy sector's gain of 10.45% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.29% in that time.
First Solar will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.07, down 0.93% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $918.43 million, up 50.75% from the year-ago period.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for First Solar. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 3.44% lower within the past month. First Solar is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, First Solar is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 38.35. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 34.78, so we one might conclude that First Solar is trading at a premium comparatively.
Meanwhile, FSLR's PEG ratio is currently 3.55. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Solar industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.76 as of yesterday's close.
The Solar industry is part of the Oils-Energy sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, putting it in the bottom 28% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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First Solar, Inc. (FSLR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
