First Solar’s Expected Sales Backlog Exceeds 80 GW

• First Solar's net sales in Q3/2023 dropped $10 million from the previous quarter due to less volume of modules sold 
• Bookings backlog at 81.8 GW includes 6.8 GW secured since the previous earnings call 
• The management has reiterated its net sales and shipment guidance for full year 2023 

In Q3/2023, US solar module manufacturer First Solar's net sales of $801 million declined by $10 million QoQ due to a reduction in the volume of modules sold during the quarter. However, net sales improved by $172 million on a YoY basis. 

The manufacturer also achieved $268 million as net income, having gone up from $171 million in Q2/2023 and up from a net loss of -$49 million in Q3/2022 (see First Solar's Q3/2022 Sales Up YoY, Yet Suffers Net Loss). 

The company rolled out solar modules worth 3.2 GW combined capacity in the reporting quarter, including 2.5 GW of Series 6 panels and 721 MW of Series 7. 

At the end of September 2023, its year-to-date (YTD) bookings reached a total of 27.8 GW, including 6.8 GW secured since the previous earnings call. First Solar says its total bookings backlog extending through 2030 now stands at 81.8 GW as of September 30, 2023. 

In terms of its manufacturing capacity expansion, the US CdTe modules maker says all under-construction fabs are on track to come online as scheduled in Alabama, Ohio and Louisiana (see First Solar Breaks Ground On 5th Manufacturing Fab). The India fab is scheduled to start deliveries by the end of 2023. 

Speaking to analysts post the Q3 results announcements, First Solar CEO Mark Widmar said the company isn't worried about more vertically integrated PV production announcements being made since the share of polysilicon and wafer/ingot is still not too high to match module demand. First Solar then gets an advantage for its domestic content and a localized supply chain. 

Philip Shen of Roth MKM opined, "While management indicated that it will remain "strategic and selective," and that bookings may slow, we remain bullish on the company's ability to drive more bookings over time at attractive pricing as FSLR remains patient for the geopolitical dynamics to swing back to their favor, i.e. UFLPA enforcement of Tier 2s, UFLPA enforcement on new categories such as aluminum frames, potential for more protectionist tariffs, etc." 

First Solar's net sales and shipment guidance for 2023 remains the same at $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion and 11.8 GW to 12.3 GW, respectively.