First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) is a company in the Semiconductor – Specialized industry and that’s how we contrast it to its competitors. The comparing will be based on the analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation, institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

First Solar Inc. has 63.1% of its shares held by institutional investors versus an average of 62.28% institutional ownership for its peers. 0.6% of First Solar Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.72% of all Semiconductor – Specialized companies shares are held by company insiders.

Profitability

On first table we have First Solar Inc. and its competitors’ return on assets, return on equity and net margins.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Solar Inc.	6.44%	2.80%	2.10%
Industry Average	3.32%	22.81%	7.80%

Earnings & Valuation

The following data compares First Solar Inc. and its competitors’ net income, valuation and top-line revenue.

	Net Income	Gross Revenue	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Solar Inc.	144.33M	2.24B	41.79
Industry Average	52.01M	1.57B	111.98

First Solar Inc. has lower P/E Ratio, but higher revenue than its peers. With presently lower P/E ratio First Solar Inc. is more affordable than its peers.

Analyst Ratings

Table 3 shows summary of recent ratings for First Solar Inc. and its competitors.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Solar Inc.	0	2	6	2.75
Industry Average	1.40	1.83	4.33	2.38

With average price target of $65.57, First Solar Inc. has a potential upside of 8.79%. As a group, Semiconductor – Specialized companies have a potential upside of 36.49%. By having stronger average rating and higher probable upside, First Solar Inc. make research analysts believe that the business is more favorable than its peers.

Performance

Here are the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of First Solar Inc. and its peers.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
First Solar Inc.	1.39%	3.76%	15.62%	-1.09%	-15.46%	23.64%
Industry Average	3.11%	18.70%	26.32%	30.80%	56.82%	47.15%

For the past year First Solar Inc.’s stock price has smaller growth than the average for its competitors.

Liquidity

First Solar Inc. has a Current Ratio of 4.6 and a Quick Ratio of 4.1. Competitively, First Solar Inc.’s peers Current Ratio is 4.51 and has 3.85 Quick Ratio. First Solar Inc. has better ability to pay short and long-term obligations than First Solar Inc.’s competitors.

Risk and Volatility

First Solar Inc. has a beta of 1.27 and its 27.00% more volatile than Standard & Poor’s 500. Competitively, First Solar Inc.’s competitors’ beta is 1.23 which is 23.11% more volatile than Standard & Poor’s 500.

Dividends

First Solar Inc. does not pay a dividend.

Summary

First Solar Inc.’s competitors show that they’re better in 4 of the 6 factors compared to the company itself.