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Gold/Mining/Energy : First Solar, Nasdaq: FSLR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (361)	2/20/2008 12:14:54 PM
From: Eric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 912

First Solar sees lower costs from Malaysian plant Reuters - February 20, 2008 9:14 AM ET NEW YORK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Thin-film solar maker First Solar (FSLR) expects its new production plant in Malaysia to cut production costs by about 20 cents per watt when it comes on line later this year. "As we're moving to Malaysia, I think our models imply a 20 cent cost per watt reduction," Jens Meyerhoff, First Solar chief financial officer, told a Piper Jaffray investment conference. First Solar has said its production costs in the fourth quarter fell to $1.12 per watt, down from $1.29 at the beginning of 2007. (Reporting by Matt Daily, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (361)	5/9/2008 10:37:27 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 912

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR): Strong Q1 performance and 2008 guidance raised; maintain Buy - Goldman Sachs - May 02, 2008 What's changed Key takeaways from First Solar’s 1Q08 report were: (1) EPS of $0.57 came in ahead of both our and consensus expectations of $0.54 and $0.47 respectively, driven by higher MWs sold and firmer than expected ASP. (2) Guidance for full year 2008 increased by 6% on production of modules to 420-460MW and by 9.5% on revenues to $975-1050mm. (3) The company discussed ongoing talks with utilities in the US, but no details were given. Implications First Solar continues to impress with another above-expectation quarter and progress towards their grid parity goal of a manufacturing cost of $0.70/watt by 2010-2012. We maintain our Buy rating given the company’s (1) strong execution thus far, (2) industry-leading cost/watt manufacturing ability, (3) entrance into the US utility market being a potential positive near-term catalyst. We are updating our FY2008-FY2010 EPS estimates to $2.93, $5.35, $7.97 from $2.78, $5.08, $8.20. Changes from prior forecasts are due to the incorporation of the latest quarter’s reported information and a view that revenue may ramp slightly faster. Valuation We are raising our 6-month price target to $330 from $275 due to slightly better out-year forecasts. Our primary valuation metric is a 2.0X PEG multiple on 2010 earnings discounted to the present. We also take into account P/E on out-year sensitivities and DCF analysis. Given our view that strong secular demand and growing earnings will overshadow the cyclical oversupply risk, we continue to believe that 2008 will be strong for fundamentals and valuation. Key risks (1) Execution problems during ramp. (2) Problems in driving costs lower. (3) Industry oversupply hits harder/sooner than expected. (4) Oil pricing falling dramatically. (5) Negative government policy/ incentive changes.