TEMPE, Ariz. — First Solar, the world’s largest maker of thin-film solar panels, reduced profit estimates for this year and next and said it will cut about 100 jobs as it shifts its focus to large-scale utility plants.
The company’s second restructuring in six weeks caused the stock to plunge 21 percent to its lowest price since February 2007. The shares have declined 74 percent this year, the largest drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Most of the job cuts will occur at a research unit in California.
First Solar said global production of solar panels has tripled in recent years as more companies, including Chinese suppliers, enter the market. Government subsidies for solar power, especially in Europe, have declined as those nations have trimmed budgets in an economic decline, chairman and acting chief executive Michael Ahearn said on a conference call Wednesday.
“I’m a little shocked” by the cuts to forecasted per-share earnings, said Mark Bachman, an analyst at Avian Securities in Boston who has a “positive” rating on First Solar.
Net sales this year will be $2.8 billion to $2.9 billion, down from Oct. 26 guidance of $3 billion to $3.3 billion, and profit will be $5.75 to $6 a share. Bloomberg News
