What's Coming For First Solar?

Shares of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) are down about 1.3 percent on Thursday afternoon, as the company prepares to announce its first quarter financial results after the bell.

According to Estimize, both the crowd and experts expect results above the company’s guidance, but well below last year’s. In the first quarter of 2014, the company reported earnings of $1.10 per share.  In the latest quarter, earnings came in at $1.89 per share.

For the first quarter of 2014, the company guided negative earnings, at ($0.30) per share, on revenue of $600 million. Meanwhile, the crowd projects EPS of ($0.11) on revenue of $619.54 million, and the Street, EPS of ($0.18) on revenue of $597.08 million.

The graph below shows First Solar’s history of estimates compared to its actual earnings.

As can be seen, there is no clear trend. However, in the last two quarters, the company beat estimates by a wide margin.

The chart below illustrates the evolution of expectations over the quarter.

Expectations have been falling consistently as the earnings date came closer.

Analyst Ratings

Several major Wall Street research firms have weighed in on First Solar recently.

Standpoint Research recently downgraded the stock to Hold.

Northland Securities upgraded the stock to Market Perform ($51 price target), while Deutsche Bank upgraded shares to Buy with a $68 price target.

Goldman Sachs also upgraded First Solar to Neutral with a $44 price target.