First Solar (FSLR)
Technology · NASDAQ · US
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
First Solar trades at $211.93, which is 137% below the $501.23 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure alone it screens as undervalued, though a DCF is an argument rather than a measurement, and the market is frequently right about why something is cheap.
Our moat model scores it 78 out of 100, which is a wide moat. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 14.7 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About First Solar
First Solar, Inc., a solar technology company, provides photovoltaic (PV) solar energy solutions in the United States, France, India, Chile, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells PV solar modules with thin film semiconductor technology that provides conventional crystalline silicon PV solar modules. It also designs, manufactures, and sells cadmium telluride solar modules that convert sunlight into electricity. The company serves system developers, independent power producers, utilities, commercial and industrial companies, large corporate energy buyers, and other system owners and operators. The company was formerly known as First Solar Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to First Solar, Inc. in 2006. First Solar, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
FSLR passes 6 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Smart money ownership
15 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Israel Englander, MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC$187.75M · 0.1% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$152.77M · 0.1% of book
- Capital Research Global, Capital Research Global Investors$80.26M · 0.0% of book
- Ken Griffin, CITADEL ADVISORS LLC$66.72M · 0.0% of book
- John Rogers, ARIEL INVESTMENTS, LLC$53.55M · 0.3% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is First Solar (FSLR) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of $501.23, FSLR at $211.93 is 137% below fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
Which funds own FSLR?
15 of the institutions we track reported a position in FSLR in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is FSLR's P/E ratio?
FSLR trades at 14.7 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
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Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.