Goldman Sachs’ Top Growth Investors: 34 Stocks With The Highest Investment For Growth

13. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)

Growth Investment Ratio: 129%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is an American solar power company that makes and sells solar modules. It generally sells its products to business and industrial users, which provides it with large-scale orders that are insulated against consumer spending weakness. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s stock has been on a roller-coaster ride in 2024. The stock soared by 50% in May around the time when the Biden Administration announced new tariffs on Chinese solar panels. Then, since the November Presidential election, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s shares are down 16.20% as the incoming Trump Administration is perceived by many to be less enthusiastic about climate change and green energy stocks. In between, First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s third-quarter profit grew by 16.6% to $313 million while it slashed full-year sales guidance to $4.175 billion from an earlier $4.5 billion. Consequently, not only a lower-rate environment but also a favorable regulatory outlook for clean energy stocks along with robust demand are needed to generate tailwinds for First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s stock.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR)’s management shared details about its bookings, a key metric for future performance, during the Q3 2024 earnings call:

“Reflected on Slide 7, our total pipeline of potential bookings remains strong with bookings opportunities totaling 81.4 gigawatts, an increase of approximately 0.8 gigawatts since the previous quarter. Our mid-to-late stage bookings opportunity decreased by approximately 5.1 gigawatts to 23.5 gigawatts, and that includes 20.9 gigawatts in North America and 2.3 gigawatts in India. Within our mid-to-late stage pipeline, 3.9 gigawatts of opportunities that are contract and subject to conditions precedent, including in the U.S. a 620-megawatt module supply grid with a customer that we supply in power to our hyperscaler, as referenced on our last earnings call and 0.8 gigawatts in India. As a reminder, signed contracts in India would not be recognized as bookings till we receive full security against the offtake.

And note that we’ve reduced our opportunities that our contract is subject to conditions precedent for India by 0.4 gigawatts as a result of terminating a defaulted module supply agreement with an India affiliate of a European oil major, who is reportedly in the process of selling this business.”