It was good news for solar stock First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), who just landed a nice new note of support from the analysts at Barclays. But even with this little something extra, investors still pulled back and took a little over 1% of First Solar’s market cap with them.
Barclays, via analyst Christine Cho, bumped up First Solar from Equal Weight to Overweight and also added on a $224 price target. The reason? A combination of visibility and follow-through. First Solar is enjoying increased name recognition in the market, and as a result, more people and organizations looking for solar installations are turning to First Solar first. A growing backlog of orders, along with “domestic content advantages” and a decent current valuation, all make for a worthwhile buy. In fact, Cho noted that using First Solar panels is about the only way that developers can reach the 40% threshold required by the Inflation Reduction Act, giving First Solar a major potential advantage.
And, with First Solar getting ready to report earnings, that’s another big potential leg up for the stock. Reports suggest that First Solar should be reporting $2.13 in earnings per share, which would represent a 563.04% jump over the same quarter a year ago. Revenue, meanwhile, is looking to come in at $903.96 million, up 43.73% against the same time last year.
What is the Outlook for First Solar Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on FSLR stock based on 16 Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average FSLR price target of $249.74 per share implies 67.23% upside potential.
