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Fly News Breaks for December 12, 2018
FSLR
Dec 12, 2018 | 08:44 EDT
Cowen analyst Jeffrey Osborne maintained an Outperform rating on First Solar but cut his price target to $74 from $85 following the company's 2019 guidance announcement. In a research note to investors, Osborne says Series 6 adoption has been strong and management has elected to accelerate the pace of its production ramp. He sees leverage longer term in FY20/FY21 given the view that S6 has a path to mid to high teens module costs over time vs. more expensive silicon based solutions. Osborne's new price target is based on ~14x his 2021 EPS estimate of $4.13, which reflects the company's visibility, full S6 ramp and a pricing environment not impacted by tariffs as well as a net cash balance exiting 2019 of ~$1.7B in cash, and ~$125M in remaining CapEx for the Series 6 ramp entering 2020.