---
title: "First Solar booked $1.34 billion of profit and negative $837 million of free cash flow in nine months"
description: "First Solar earned $1.34 billion in nine months and still ran free cash flow $837 million negative, with the profit booked as $1.29 billion of uncollected tax credits. After a five-session, $3.2 billion slide with no company news, that gap, not the P/E, is what owners of a 9.9-times-earnings stock are holding."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Power"
published: 2026-11-15T17:19:33.810Z
modified: 2026-11-15T17:19:33.810Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/first-solar-booked-1-34-billion-of-profit-and-negative-837-million-of-free-cash-flow-in-nine-months
language: en
keywords: "First Solar, Solar, Earnings, Tax Credits, Free Cash Flow"
---

# First Solar booked $1.34 billion of profit and negative $837 million of free cash flow in nine months

> First Solar earned $1.34 billion in nine months and still ran free cash flow $837 million negative, with the profit booked as $1.29 billion of uncollected tax credits. After a five-session, $3.2 billion slide with no company news, that gap, not the P/E, is what owners of a 9.9-times-earnings stock are holding.

[First Solar](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/first-solar), the only U.S.-headquartered company among the world's biggest solar manufacturers, fell 14.8% over the five sessions to November 13 while the S&P 500 gained 2.5%, erasing about $3.2 billion of market value [1]. It closed at $171.39, 46.1% below its 52-week high of $318.25 [1]. No company news came in between, and nothing is due until the February 2027 report [2]. A holder posting on [Reddit](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/reddit)'s ValueInvesting forum lists the bull case, 9.75 times trailing earnings and a 37% net margin, and asks why the stock keeps falling [3]. Both answers are in [the October 29 filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1274494/000127449426000212/fslr-20260930.htm) [3].

## The income statement shows a record margin

Third-quarter net sales fell 23% from a year earlier to $1.23 billion, yet diluted earnings rose 25% to $5.30 and the board added a $500 million buyback [4]. Trailing operating margin reached 37.7%, the best since fiscal Q4 2016 [2].

The order book still holds 44.0 gigawatts, $13.5 billion of contracted revenue through 2030, though it excludes Indian contracts whose payment is not fully secured [5]. Even so, 2026 sales guidance came down to $4.6 billion to $4.9 billion, from $4.9 billion to $5.2 billion, on roughly 0.7 gigawatts less sold from India into India, and management says customers are deferring orders for later-decade projects [4][2].

## The cash flow statement shows where the money went

Nine-month net income was $1.34 billion [5][2]. Operating cash flow was minus $402.7 million, against plus $815.2 million a year earlier, and after capital spending free cash flow ran $837 million negative, with a burn in every quarter of 2026 [5][2].

*Chart: **Reported profit kept rising while operating cash flow went negative in 2026** Column chart comparing First Solar quarterly net income, positive in all eight quarters, with operating cash flow, positive through 2025 and negative in all three quarters of 2026*

*Quarterly net income and operating cash flow, in billions of dollars, from First Solar's SEC filings. Net income was positive in every quarter shown; operating cash flow turned negative in each quarter of 2026. [9]*

One line did most of the damage: government grants receivable consumed $1.29 billion, almost exactly the period's profit [5]. The margin leans on [Section 45X manufacturing credits](https://theinference.org/article/first-solar-cut-its-customers-and-kept-the-tax-credit), up to 17 cents per watt, which cut cost of sales by $1.50 billion against $1.80 billion of gross profit [5]. The 2024 and 2025 credits were sold at about 95 cents on the dollar; the 10-Q discloses no sale of 2026 credits, while finished-goods inventory rose $286 million [5]. The margin is real; the money, so far, is a receivable.

*Chart: **Free cash flow has been negative in all three quarters of 2026** Column chart of First Solar quarterly free cash flow from Q4 2024 to Q3 2026, negative in all three quarters of 2026*

*Quarterly free cash flow, operating cash flow less capital expenditures, in billions of dollars, from First Solar's SEC filings. [8]*

*Chart: **One receivable from Washington consumed the operating cash** Bar chart ranking the working capital lines that consumed First Solar's operating cash over nine months, led by government grants receivable at $1.29 billion*

*Changes in operating assets and liabilities, nine months to September 30, 2026, in billions of dollars, per the Form 10-Q condensed statement of cash flows. [5]*

## What February has to answer

[Goldman Sachs](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/goldman-sachs) kept its buy rating and $272 target [6], and Mirova US, a $13.6 billion fund, raised its stake 37% to 897,172 shares in the third quarter [7]. The Street's average target is $254, but the lowest of 37, at $169, sits below the last close, and [TIKR](https://www.tikr.com/blog/14-billion-fund-bought-3-stocks-jpmorgan-amd-first-solar)'s desk wants the backlog, 44.0 gigawatts against 47.9 in March, to stop shrinking before calling the stock cheap [7].

Three dates will settle it: whether the fourth quarter repeats last year's $1.07 billion of free cash flow [2], the [$0.38-per-watt import floor landing December 4](https://theinference.org/article/first-solar-raised-prices-on-every-deal-since-august-the-0-38-per-watt-import-floor-lands-december-4), and the run-or-close decision on the 1.8 gigawatt Malaysia plant due in the first half of 2027 [2].

## Takeaway

First Solar reported $1.34 billion of nine-month profit while operating cash flow ran minus $403 million, because $1.29 billion of that profit sits in a government grants receivable rather than in the bank. The five-day, $3.2 billion slide is the market relearning that a 9.75 times earnings multiple rests on credits it has not yet sold.

## Sources

1. [Trefis, "First Solar Stock: 5 Straight Red Days, Down 15%", 14 November 2026](https://www.trefis.com/stock/fslr/articles/625135/first-solar-stock-5-straight-red-days-down-15/2026-11-14)
2. [Trefis, "How Low Can First Solar Stock Go?", 13 November 2026](https://www.trefis.com/stock/fslr/articles/624933/how-low-can-first-solar-stock-go/2026-11-13)
3. [Reddit r/ValueInvesting, "First Solar (FSLR) Value?", November 2026](https://old.reddit.com/r/ValueInvesting/comments/1xvdbdq/first_solar_fslr_value/)
4. [First Solar 8-K Exhibit 99.1, third quarter 2026 results press release, 29 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1274494/000127449426000211/ex991pressreleaseq3-2026.htm)
5. [First Solar Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed 29 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1274494/000127449426000212/fslr-20260930.htm)
6. [Stocktwits, @sampeper post on Goldman Sachs maintaining First Solar at Buy with a $272 target, 15 November 2026](https://stocktwits.com/sampeper/message/669119613)
7. [TIKR, "A $14 Billion Fund Just Bought These 3 Stocks", 13 November 2026](https://www.tikr.com/blog/14-billion-fund-bought-3-stocks-jpmorgan-amd-first-solar)
8. [First Solar quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 15 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001274494)
9. [First Solar, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 15 November 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001274494)


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First Solar booked $1.34 billion of profit and negative $837 million of free cash flow in nine months — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/first-solar-booked-1-34-billion-of-profit-and-negative-837-million-of-free-cash-flow-in-nine-months