For those looking to find strong Oils-Energy stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Has First Solar (FSLR) been one of those stocks this year? A quick glance at the company’s year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Oils-Energy sector should help us answer this question.
First Solar is a member of our Oils-Energy group, which includes 256 different companies and currently sits at #16 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.
The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. FSLR is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSLR’s full-year earnings has moved 32.82% higher within the past quarter. This shows that analyst sentiment has improved and the company’s earnings outlook is stronger.
Our latest available data shows that FSLR has returned about 80.83% since the start of the calendar year. At the same time, Oils-Energy stocks have lost an average of 27%. This means that First Solar is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.
To break things down more, FSLR belongs to the Solar industry, a group that includes 12 individual companies and currently sits at #194 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 222.40% this year, meaning that FSLR is slightly underperforming its industry in terms of year-to-date returns.
Investors in the Oils-Energy sector will want to keep a close eye on FSLR as it attempts to continue its solid performance.
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