From SmarTrend:
10/29/2010-Barclays Capital issued a note to clients discussing earnings from First Solar (:FSLR), calling the company's beat and raise insufficient to appease investors.From Benzinga:
BarCap analyst Vishal Shah said, "Beat/raise not enough: Investor expectations went up going into the call and given the positive investor backdrop, the magnitude of beat was probably not enough, in our view. Lack of positive news flow on the Agua Caliente financing front, unexpected cost increase and 17c negative tax impact were some of the additional sources of disappointment. That said, the long term thesis remains relatively intact post Q3 earnings, in our view - 2011 captive business is the reason most investors are willing to pay a premium valuation and bull case 2011 earnings power of $10 is still possible....MORE
Hapoalim Securities Has Notes On First Solar
Hapoalim Securities is raising its price target on First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) to $105 from $100 after the company reported earnings after the bell yesterday. It is maintaining its Sell rating on shares.
In a note to clients, Hapoalim writes, "FSLR's 3Q10 results surpassed our and consensus estimates driven by revenue upside and lower-than-expected opex, but we expect the stock to come under pressure as new guidance for 2010 EPS of $7.50-7.65 likely didn't meet rising hopes it may hit $8.00. Moreover, hopes that the sale of Agua Caliente would occur in 4Q10 were dashed as management suggested 1Q11 was most likely. Finally, while FSLR generated healthy cash flow in 3Q10, evidence of the substantial cash needs of the project business rose to the surface. After raising our estimate for 2010 EPS largely on the 3Q10 upside and 2011 EPS on a higher ASP base, we raise our price target from $100 to $105."
