First Solar Earnings Face Headwinds (FSLR)

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is getting snubbed in the after-hours after the solar leader reported disappointing earnings.  The company reported $1.33 EPS and said sales were $567.3 million.  This compares to $1.40 in the fourth quarter of 2010 and down from $2.00 a year ago.  In sales this represents more than a $42 million drop in sales sequentially and is down by about $1 million from the first quarter of 2010. Thomson Reuters had estimates of $1.16 EPS and $544.37 million in sales.

The company blamed the revenue miss on the allocation of modules to systems projects to meet the project contractual delivery schedules.  It also noted that there were seven fewer production days in this quarter, and lastly that a full quarter impact of the pricing change was implemented in December of 2010.

It is claiming that it has a solid outlook for the year and said it is backing 2011 guidance of $9.25 to $9.75 EPS on net sales of $3.7 billion  to $3.8 billion.  Thomson Reuters has estimates of $9.52 EPS and $3.79 billion in revenues.  The figures are expected to come to $900 million to $970 million in operating income, with cap-ex put in a range of $1.0 billion  to $1.1 billion and operating cash flows of $800 million to $1.0 billion.

First Solar shares closed down by 2.1% at $134.66 today and shares were down as much as 4% to 5% originally in the after-hours.  Shares are down about 1% at $133.30 in after-hours trading, and the 52-week trading range is $100.19 to $175.45.

JON C. OGG