First Solar, Inc. Q4 FY2023 results: revenue $1.2 billion, up 15.6% on the year

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) reported revenue of $1.2 billion for Q4 FY2023, the quarter ended 31 December 2023, up 15.6% on the same quarter a year earlier. Net income was $349 million, and diluted earnings per share $3.25. The figures are the company's own, from the 10-K it filed with the SEC on 27 February 2024.

Revenue$1.2 billionup 15.6%

Net income$349 million

Diluted EPS$3.25

QuarterQ4 FY2023ended 31 December 2023

The quarter, against the one before and a year earlier

Line	Q4 FY2023	Q3 FY2023	A year earlier	Change on the year
Revenue	1,159	801	n/a	n/a
Cost of revenue	657	425	n/a	n/a
Gross profit	502	376	n/a	n/a
Gross margin	43.3%	47.0%	n/a
Research and development	43.9	41.2	n/a	n/a
Selling, general and administrative	57.1	50.2	n/a	n/a
Operating income	398	273	n/a	n/a
Operating margin	34.3%	34.1%	n/a
Interest expense	7.1	3.7	n/a	n/a
Pre-tax income	377	290	n/a	n/a
Income tax	27.4	22.1	n/a	n/a
Effective tax rate	7.3%	7.6%	n/a
Net income	349	268	n/a	n/a
Net margin	30.1%	33.5%	n/a
Diluted EPS	$3.25	$2.50	n/a	n/a

$ million except per share. Fourth quarters are the year less the first three quarters. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less capital expenditure; the effective tax rate is income tax over pre-tax income; margins are the line over revenue. Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue, and operating income is revenue less the company's own total costs, where the statement does not print those lines. Those four are arithmetic on the filed numbers; everything else is as filed. Money is in $ million as the company files it, or in $ billion by the switch above the tables; per share figures and share counts are as they are.

Cash flow and capital returned

Line	Q4 FY2023	Q3 FY2023	A year earlier	Change on the year
Operating cash flow	561	165	n/a	n/a
Capital expenditure	347	286	n/a	n/a
Free cash flow	214	-121	n/a	n/a
Free cash flow margin	18.5%	-15.1%	n/a
Depreciation and amortisation	89.7	77.7	n/a	n/a
Share-based compensation	11.0	8.2	n/a	n/a
Diluted shares, weighted	107m	107m	n/a	n/a
Shares outstanding at period end	107m	107m	n/a	n/a

Cash flow lines for the quarter; where the company files them year to date, the quarter is the difference between two filings.

Balance sheet at quarter end

Line	Q4 FY2023	Q3 FY2023	A year earlier	Change on the year
Total assets	10,365	9,583	n/a	n/a
Cash and equivalents	1,947	1,493	n/a	n/a
Receivables	661	754	n/a	n/a
Inventory	820	883	n/a	n/a
Goodwill	29.7	28.5	n/a	n/a
Total debt, as filed	560	499	n/a	n/a
Long-term debt	464	464	n/a	n/a
Borrowings, as the company tags them	n/a	500	n/a	n/a
Operating lease liabilities	36.7	34.2	n/a	n/a
Finance lease liabilities	17.1	n/a	n/a	n/a
Shareholders' equity	6,687	6,302	n/a	n/a

Quarterly results, the last 12 quarters

	Q3 FY2023	Q4 FY2023 *	Q1 FY2024	Q2 FY2024	Q3 FY2024	Q4 FY2024 *	Q1 FY2025	Q2 FY2025	Q3 FY2025	Q4 FY2025 *	Q1 FY2026	Q2 FY2026
Revenue	801	1,159	794	1,010	888	1,514	845	1,097	1,595	1,683	1,044	1,056
Cost of revenue	425	657	448	512	442	946	500	597	984	1,017	558	451
Gross profit	376	502	346	499	445	568	344	500	611	665	486	605
Gross margin	47%	43%	44%	49%	50%	37%	41%	46%	38%	40%	47%	57%
R&D	41.2	43.9	42.7	51.9	50.2	46.5	52.4	54.5	60.6	66.0	66.9	76.2
SG&A	50.2	57.1	45.8	46.6	46.3	49.6	53.2	52.6	47.3	50.7	65.3	51.9
Operating income	273	398	243	373	322	457	221	362	466	548	345	450
Operating margin	34%	34%	31%	37%	36%	30%	26%	33%	29%	33%	33%	43%
Interest expense	3.7	7.1	9.2	9.8	9.0	10.9	9.5	9.2	14.1	11.3	7.6	5.6
Pre-tax income	290	377	256	377	327	446	217	352	460	551	354	459
Tax rate	8%	7%	7%	7%	4%	12%	3%	3%	1%	6%	2%	8%
Net income	268	349	237	349	313	393	210	342	456	521	347	423
Net margin	34%	30%	30%	35%	35%	26%	25%	31%	29%	31%	33%	40%
Diluted EPS	$2.50	$3.25	$2.20	$3.25	$2.91	$3.66	$1.95	$3.18	$4.24	$4.84	$3.22	$3.92
Operating cash flow	165	561	268	193	-53.7	811	-608	150	1,274	1,242	-215	-145
Capital expenditure	286	347	413	365	434	314	206	288	204	172	119	161
Free cash flow	-121	214	-146	-172	-488	497	-814	-139	1,070	1,070	-333	-306
Shares outstanding	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m	107m
Filing	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q	10-Q	10-K	10-Q	10-Q

* The fourth quarter is the full year less the first three quarters, because the company files the year and not the quarter on its own. Money is in $ million as the company files it, or in $ billion by the switch above the tables; per share figures and the share count are as they are. Free cash flow is operating cash flow less capital expenditure; the effective tax rate is income tax over pre-tax income; margins are the line over revenue. Gross profit is revenue less cost of revenue, and operating income is revenue less the company's own total costs, where the statement does not print those lines. Cash flow lines filed year to date are the difference between two filings. Shares outstanding are at the period end where the balance sheet tags them, otherwise the count on the filing's cover page. A derived fourth-quarter EPS is left blank when a split in the year makes the arithmetic meaningless.

Source

10-K for the period ended 31 December 2023, filed 27 February 2024, accession 0001274494-24-000004: the filing on EDGAR. All of First Solar, Inc.'s filings: EDGAR company page.

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