Roth Capital analyst Philip Shen reiterated a Buy rating and $90 price target on First Solar following the company's Q2 results, which missed expectations in contract with his preview for an optical beat on 8point3 sale timing. In a research note to investors, Shen says the miss does not weaken his investment thesis, as he continues to believe First Solar has and will maintain a meaningful lead ahead of its Chinese competition for the foreseeable future, resulting in attractive margins/earnings power ahead. Although the stock will likely trades down on the weak quarter, Shen see this as an attractive entry point.

Wells Fargo notes that a group of seven domestic solar product makers, including First Solar (FSLR), filed a petition to levy anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, looking for duties ranging from 70.4% to 271.5%. The firm, which included the "important reminder" that "this is just a petition," says the uncertainty created by the petition is "incrementally positive" for First Solar and negative for Canadian Solar (CSIQ), Array Technologies (ARRY) and Nextracker (NXT).

As previously reported, Evercore ISI analyst Sean Morgan upgraded First Solar to Outperform from In Line with an unchanged price target of $227. The market is expecting the Biden administration to remove a trade exemption for bifacial solar modules imported to the U.S., which now represent about 98% of U.S. solar imports, the analyst noted. Solar panel imports skyrocketed in 2023 to 54GW and some market participants have stated that reliance on imports and oversupply are negatively impacting solar domestic factories, which have been a priority for the current U.S. administration, putting pressure on greater U.S. trade protections and policy support, the analyst added.

Evercore ISI analyst Sean Morgan upgraded First Solar to Outperform from In Line with a $227 price target.