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Makes thin-film cadmium telluride solar panels, largely for US utility-scale solar power plants.
Makes thin-film cadmium telluride solar panels, largely for US utility-scale solar power plants.
Sells modules to utility-scale developers under multi-year contracts at agreed prices per watt, booking orders well ahead of delivery. Since 2022, US federal tax credits for domestically made panels, which it can sell or use, have been a big part of its profit. Its factories are in the US, India, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, process know-how, regulatory licence). US-based thin-film manufacturing benefits from domestic-content and tariff rules that disadvantage Chinese crystalline-silicon panels.
Headquarters: Tempe, Arizona, United States · Founded: 1999 · Employees: 7,900
Size First Solar (FSLR) is a United States Information Technology company (Semiconductors) with a market value of $21.6B, the 472nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $201.14 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 8.6%, against -22.9% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 8th highest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 0.7% over the last twelve months (peer median +25.7%); the operating margin is 39.1% (peer median 18.1%).
Valuation It trades at 9.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 31.4× (2nd cheapest of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 12% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +14%, so the hurdle is -2 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.8 points above its cost of capital (13.4% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 10.8% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 2 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $5.01B | $5.22B | $4.21B | $3.32B | $2.62B |
| Revenue growth | — | +24% | +27% | +27% | — |
| Gross profit | $2.47B | $2.12B | $1.86B | $1.29B | $128M |
| EBITDA | $2.54B | $2.21B | $1.90B | $1.25B | $120M |
| Net income | $1.86B | $1.53B | $1.29B | $831M | -$44.2M |
| Free cash flow | $233M | $1.19B | -$308M | -$785M | -$30.2M |
| Capital expenditure | $606M | $870M | $1.53B | $1.39B | $904M |
| Total debt | $325M | $655M | $719M | $624M | $234M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Solar FSLR | $21.6B | -9% | -1% | 39% | 9.2× | 12.4% |
| Canadian Solar CSIQ | $755M | -45% | -16% | -2% | n/a | n/a |
| JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. Sponsored ADR JKS | $551M | -55% | -15% | -8% | n/a | n/a |
| LONGi Green Energy Technology 601012.SS | $14.1B | -25% | -16% | -12% | n/a | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | FSLR | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +12.5% | -21.0% | highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -8.6% | -22.9% | 8th highest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -37.3% | -53.1% | 5th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -0.7% | +25.7% | 2nd lowest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 39.1% | 18.1% | 5th highest of 18 |
| Forward P/E | 9.2× | 31.4× | 2nd cheapest of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 12.4% | 25.4% | 5th least demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +14.0% | +12.9% | 6th highest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -1.6 pp | +0.7 pp | 6th least demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +2.8 pp | +3.5 pp | 9th lowest of 18 |
| EV / EBITDA | 8.0× | 22.1× | cheapest of 8 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.5× | -0.4× | 5th least indebted of 9 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Solar FSLR | United States | $21.6B | -9% | -1% | 39% | 9.2× | 12.4% | +14.0% |
| Piotech 688072.SS | China | $21.7B | +23% | +24% | 14% | 55.5× | 43.5% | +71.7% |
| GlobalFoundries GFS | United States | $21.2B | -48% | +1% | 12% | 16.2× | 24.9% | +7.0% |
| SJ Semiconductor 688820.SS | China | $22.9B | -21% | +1% | n/a | 136.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Suzhou TFC Optical Communication 300394.SZ | China | $19.9B | -44% | +26% | 51% | 36.3× | 44.8% | +42.7% |
| Shanghai Enflame Technology 688801.SS | China | $23.8B | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Montage Technology 6809.HK | Hong Kong | $24.1B | -49% | +40% | 42% | 45.8× | 8.1% | +23.6% |
| Skyworks Solutions SWKS | United States | $19.3B | +24% | -3% | 9% | 14.3× | 39.4% | -5.0% |
| ON Semiconductor ON | United States | $24.6B | -39% | +3% | 19% | 14.3× | 20.0% | +2.7% |
| DapuStor 301666.SZ | China | $18.8B | +20% | +611% | 23% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Moore Threads Technology 688795.SS | China | $25.1B | -53% | +226% | -9% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| GigaDevice Semiconductor 3986.HK | Hong Kong | $25.1B | -43% | +181% | 50% | 11.6× | -8.8% | +14.6% |
| Global Unichip 3443.TW | Taiwan | $25.1B | +29% | +104% | 13% | 50.1× | n/a | n/a |
| Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor 688347.SS | China | $25.5B | +23% | +18% | -2% | 234.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Renesas Electronics 6723.T | Japan | $27.9B | -23% | +26% | 24% | 9.9× | 12.2% | +13.0% |
| Winbond Electronic 2344.TW | Taiwan | $16.4B | +22% | +154% | 43% | 2.8× | 0.6% | +8.1% |
| MACOM Technology Solutions MTSI | United States | $16.1B | -41% | +28% | 18% | 23.2× | 49.4% | +12.8% |
| OmniVision Integrated Circuits 603501.SS | China | $16.1B | -12% | +2% | 13% | 31.4× | n/a | n/a |
| MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) 688802.SS | China | $29.5B | -35% | +84% | n/a | 469.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Tower Semiconductor TSEM | United States | $15.6B | -35% | +22% | 19% | 21.6× | 25.9% | +4.4% |
| Hwatsing Technology 688120.SS | China | $15.4B | +42% | +36% | 18% | 63.8× | 41.8% | +64.4% |