Is the business good?
How good a business is FSLR?
First Solar earns 17% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
17%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 7.6 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 34%
Operating margin · Solar median 4.8% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.86×
Cash conversion · −0.75× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- +0.20%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 12% |
| FY2021 | 20% |
| FY2022 | −1.0% |
| FY2023 | 26% |
| FY2024 | 33% |
| FY2025 | 31% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 44%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 34%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 32%
- Free cash flow margin
- 28%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 5.0%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $5.38B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $1.50B
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $1.75B
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 17%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.