Benzinga | Feb 24, 2021 10:12AM EST

Preview: First Solar's Earnings

First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, February 25. Here is Benzinga's look at First Solar's Q4 earnings report.

Net Income, Earnings, And Earnings Per Share

Earnings and EPS are useful metrics of profitability. Total earnings also known as net income is equal to total revenue minus total expenses. Dividing net income by the total number of shares outstanding yields EPS.

Earnings And Revenue

Analysts predict First Solar will report earnings of $1.23 per share on revenue of $720.48 million. In the same quarter last year, First Solar announced EPS of $2.02 on revenue of $1.40 billion.

What Are Analyst Estimates And Earnings Surprises, And Why Do They Matter?

Analysts who cover this company will publish forward-looking estimates of its revenue and EPS each quarter. Averaging together every EPS and revenue prediction that each analyst makes about a company in a quarter yields the "consensus estimates." A company posting earnings or revenue above or below the consensus estimate is known as an "earnings surprise" and may move the stock by a considerable margin.

If the company were to report earnings in line when it publishes results Thursday, quarterly profit would be down 39.11%. Sales would be down 48.5% from the year-ago period. Here is how the company's EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Quarter Q3 2020 Q2 2020 Q1 2020 Q4 2020EPS Estimate 0.61 0.23 0.27 2.76EPS Actual 1.45 0.39 0.85 2.02Revenue Estimate 693.13 M 493.34 M 571.98 M 1.79 BRevenue Actual 927.57 M 642.41 M 532.12 M 1.40 B

Stock Performance

Shares of First Solar were trading at $86.97 as of February 23. Over the last 52-week period, shares are up 91.77%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders can be satisfied going into this earnings release.

Do not be surprised to see the stock move on comments made during its conference call. First Solar is scheduled to hold the call at 16:30:00 ET and can be accessed here.