As long-time readers know, we have some history with this one, including pretty much from the IPO to the all-time-high eighteen months later, a period known as "The happy time."
First Solar IPO:......$20.00 Nov. 17, 2006.
Top tick..............$317.00 May 14, 2008.
The GoGo's were on a loop on the squawk box with "We Got The Beat" each earnings report for eighteen months.
We last visited the company dubbed the "poster child for solar subsidies" coming into February's earnings report. Some links below.
Today the stock was up $15.77 (+8.03%) at $212.11
And from Yahoo Finance, May 21:
First Solar (FSLR) is basking in bullish reviews, with Piper Sandler's Kashy Harrison and UBS's Jon Windham raising their price targets on the company's stock.
Harrison has raised his price target to $219, up from $195, while Windham has increased his target to $270 from the previous $252. Favorable tailwinds, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the company's margin growth potential, fuel these lifts.
Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton break down the details.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.
This post was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
Let's get some calls of the day.
We start with Piper Sandler, New Bs both raising their price targets.
On first solar yesterday, we spoke to first solar CEO mark with me and he told us about what has been driving the solar industry.
Look, I think it all started with the, you know, inflation Reduction Act, you know, that was announced a couple of years ago now, almost two years ago.
Now um that enabled kind of this first of a first of a kind opportunity for this industry, a whole of industry approach that could now see across the balance of this decade.
And when we talked about the investments that his company is making in R and D this year, they're also gonna be the beneficiary of a billion dollars worth of tax related subsidies as a result of the IRA.
And that seems to be what's behind at least one of the calls here.
Yeah, it was interesting.
So the team at U Bs is saying basically A I driven electricity demand is gonna ramp and that's good news in their opinion for this name.
Take their targets use 70 they reiterated by, they talk about how A I uses A I uses about 10 times more electricity than traditional Google search.
And they talk also about big companies, Amazon Microsoft Meta Google have kind of committed here to purchasing renewable power equal to their consumption electricity, right?
This push the subsidization, the incentives that are in place in particular to have them sourcing that power from renewable sources.
Um Kashi Harrison over Piper Sandler raising his price target to 219 from 195 and pointed to some of the inflation reduction Act measures that will be helpful for the company....
....MORE
A couple of the Inflation Reduction Act posts. As the Wall Street Journal noted on July 31:
The U.S. Clean-Energy Company That Hit the Subsidies Jackpot
Of all the beneficiaries of the U.S.’s green-energy push, few have hit the jackpot like First Solar. The Arizona-based solar-panel manufacturer expects to receive as much as $710 million this year—nearly 90% of forecast operating profit—from subsidies the U.S. government rolled out a year ago to encourage domestic renewables production. One analyst estimates the incentives could be worth more than $10 billion for the company over the next decade...
And December 27, 2023:
Jackpot: "First Solar to sell up to $700 million in IRA tax credits to Fiserv" (FSLR)
And the earnings posts:
February 27: Earnings: First Solar Beats On Bottom Line, Light On Top, Guides Higher (FSLR)
After-hours the stock is up $3.01 (+2.08%) at $148.00 and as we said in the outro from yesterday's post:
As for our opinion? We have the Go-Go's "We got the beat" cued up.
The stock is up 71 cents at $143.60.
We'll see if the stock can hold the uptick tomorrow but tonight, we dance:
February 28: First Solar Stock Jumps 8% (FSLR)
