First Solar Inc  FSLR

Summary (from 2016 annual report, Fiscal year ends in December)

• Total equity: 5.21 billion USD
• Market Cap is 2.9 billion USD ( the last price of the stock is 27.42 USD)
• First Solar Inc is a provider of solar energy solutions. It designs, manufactures and sells PV solar modules with a thin-film semiconductor technology. It also manufactures crystalline silicon solar modules
• Equity of total company decreased from 5.54 billion USD in 2015 to 5.21 billion in 2016
• Company has 1.34 billion USD in cash on account
• Total equity – cash on account = 5.21 billion USD – 1.34 billion USD = 3.87 billion USD
• In 2016 long-term debt was 160 million USD, short-term debt was 28 million USD (from latest annual report, in 2015 total debt was 289 million USD)
• In latest annual report - total equity decreased to 5.21 billion  USD from 5.54 billion USD in 2015, total debt was 188 million USD in 2016)
• Company's revenue decreased in 2016 (latest annual report) to 2.95 billion USD from 3.57 billion in 2015
• Net loss in 2016 was 358 million USD, Net income in 2015 was 546 million USD

Opinion about the company

Fundamentally it is a not bad company and in the future, we can expect its growth (Total debt is 188 million USD, company has 1.34 billion USD in cash on account, ROE is negative, around -6 %).

First Solar, Inc. is an American photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer of rigid thin film modules, or solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses cadmium telluride (CdTe) as a semiconductor to produce CdTe-panels, that are competing successfully with conventional crystalline silicon technology. In 2009, First Solar became the first solar panel manufacturing company to lower its manufacturing cost to $1 per watt and produced CdTe-panels with an efficiency of about 14 percent at a reported cost of 59 cents per watt in 2013.

The company was founded in 1990 by inventor Harold McMaster as Solar Cells, Inc. and the Florida Corporation in 1993 with JD Polk. In 1999 it was purchased by True North Partners, LLC, who rebranded it as First Solar, Inc. The company went public in 2006, trading on the NASDAQ.

The company is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona and has manufacturing facilities in Perrysburg, Ohio and Kulim, Malaysia. Additionally, First Solar partnered with natural gas provider Enbridge to build the largest PV solar energy farm in the world, located in Sarnia, Ontario, near the Canada–US border. In July 2010, First Solar formed a utility systems business group to address the large-scale PV systems solutions market. Utility systems are now the company's core business focus, with a strategy to focus on markets that do not require subsidies to support the solar generation business.

• Solar module revenue represents 23% of total revenues
• Solar power system revenue represents 77% of total revenues
• The United States represents 83% of total revenues in 2016, India represents 5.3% of total revenues, Spain represents 4.8% of total revenues (Jordan, Germany, Australia and all other foreign countries represent 6.9% of total revenues)

First Solar 2017 sales guidance

• FSLR now sees 2017 net sales of $2.8B-$2.9B, up from the $2.5B-$2.6B it previously forecast and better than the $2.53B analyst consensus estimate, which it says allows for full revenue recognition on the Moapa project sale near Las Vegas; its full-year outlook for EPS and shipments remain unchanged at $0.00-$0.50 and 2.4-2.6 GW, respectively
• The company says it is bringing forward production of its Series 6 modules by a year to 2018 and abandoning plans for the Series 5 product; it originally expected the Series 5 and 6 products to be on the market at the same time

FSLR standalone subsidiaries and acquisitions:

• In 2009 First Solar acquired OptiSolar R&D for $400M in Stock
• In 2010 First Solar acquired NextLight Renewable Power for $285M in cash
• In 2011 First Solar acquired RayTracker for undisclosed amount (less than $50M)
• In 2013 First Solar acquired PrimeStar Solar for undisclosed amount (around $30M)
• In October 2016, First Solar acquired 100% of the shares of Enki Technology, Inc. (“Enki”), a developer of advanced coating materials for the PV solar industry, for cash payments of $10.3M
• In 2008 First Solar invested $29.9M in SolarCity, in 2015 First Solar invested $50M in Younicos

Total = 855.2 million USD

On April 17, 2012, First Solar announced it would restructure operations worldwide. This restructuring process included phasing out operations in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany and idling four production lines in Kulim, Malaysia. 30% of First Solar's workforce was laid off as a result of these actions, which were blamed on market volatility and reduced demand.