By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – First Solar stock (NASDAQ:FSLR) slumped 10.5% Wednesday after the company’s fourth-quarter revenue and the annual outlook both disappointed.
UBS, Baird, Cowen, Susquehanna and Wolfe Research were quick to cut their targets for the stock, according to reports. Wolfe sees the stock at $65 while UBS lowered it to $76. The stock is currently just short of $68.
October-December net sales rose 50% to $0.9 billion but were still short of estimates. Full-year sales were $2.9 billion, and the company is now projecting that to fall to at least $2.6 billion in the current year. Sales could be even lower at $2.4 billion, according to the company’s guidance.
The company closed December with a contracted backlog of 26.2 GW.
CEO Mark Widmar said the company “will continue to navigate near-term headwinds with a focus on the future”.
The company issued a wide range for its 2022 projected operating income, implying a significant fall to $55 million to $155 million in 2022 from $587 million. The company blamed this on production start-up expenses and underutilization of losses related to factory upgrades.
The company is set up new factories in India and Ohio.
First Solar said it is in advanced discussions to sell its project development and operations and maintenance platform in Japan. It gave no more details while saying the talks could fall through.
Adjusted profit per share rose 15 cents to $1.23 in the fourth quarter.