The sequential increase in net income was due to higher gross margins associated with the majority sale of the Desert Stateline project, improvements in systems project costs and a decrease in our module collection and recycling obligation, which reduced cost of sales by $70 million and operating expenses by$10 million.
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-EPS Growth (Y-o-Y): 288.5%. The company boasts that over 10GW of its solar modules are installed worldwide, and the company recently achieved a world record 18.6% thin film module conversion efficiency in the lab. The record is reportedly more efficient than the best multi-crystalline module recorded. Separately, on September 24, Deutsche Bank’s Vishal Shah maintained a Buy rating on the stock and has a price target of $68.
First Solar reported that the first two blocks of its Luz del Norte solar project with about half of the project’s eventual capacity of 141 MW were connected to the Chilean central grid.
First Solar management also raised their full year earnings guidance to a range of $4.30 to $4.50 per share.
Analysts had expected the company to earn $1.55 per share, according figures compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Canadian Solar announced it has signed a $100 million two-year senior secured term loan arranged by Credit Suisse, Singapore.
SunPower Corporation SPWR reported third-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings per share of 3 cents, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 14 cents by 78.6%.
-Revenue (Q3): $1.27 Bln vs. $0.89 Bln a year ago. Both First Solar and Solar City are leaders in the solar energy industry, have comparable market caps ($5.7 billion for FSLR, $2.9 billion for SCTY) and have been growing revenues at an impressive clip. The solar company expects to release its finalized results on November 9.
Tempe, AZ-based First Solar is steadily expanding its global footprint.
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First Solar is able to develop economically sustainable businesses as it has established its expertise in PV generation solutions as well as in other areas of the solar-value chain, such as project development, EPC capabilities and O&M services. The company also stands to benefit from the emphasis it places on R&D. First Solar expects the plant to enter full commercial operation by January 2016.
