New York, January 7, 2026, 18:48 (EST) — After-hours
Shares of First Solar (FSLR) fell 10.3% to $241.11 on Wednesday after Jefferies downgraded the U.S. solar panel maker to “hold” from “buy” and cut its price target to $260 from $269. The brokerage cited “limited booking visibility” for 2026 and said a hoped-for “S232” tailwind — shorthand for potential Section 232 duties that can be imposed after a Commerce Department national-security investigation — could “underwhelm investor expectations,” flagging possible carve-outs for Germany and developers moving ahead of any levies. The stock opened at $254.02 and touched $239.26 at its low; volume was about 6.2 million shares. TipRanks
The downgrade lands after a strong run: First Solar has risen about 28% over the past year, Barron’s reported. The shares closed Tuesday at $268.78, about 6% below a $285.99 52-week high set on Dec. 22, MarketWatch data showed.
That rally has leaned on the idea that U.S. makers with domestic capacity could hold pricing as imports face tighter scrutiny. For traders, the swing factor is orders: new bookings and cancellations can change revenue expectations quickly.
At its third-quarter update in October, the company reported a contracted backlog of 54.5 gigawatts through 2030 and said it had booked about 2.7 GW since the prior call, according to its earnings presentation. It also said it terminated 6.6 GW of bookings tied to defaults by BP affiliates, lifting total “debookings” — cancellations of future orders — to 6.9 GW. First Solar has said a new 3.7-gigawatt U.S. factory is due to start production at the end of 2026. Q4 Investor Relations+1
Other solar names were mixed. Sunrun fell 5.1% and Canadian Solar dropped 6.3%, while Enphase and SolarEdge were little changed.
But the trade call is a moving target. Any Section 232 action could be delayed, watered down by exemptions, or pulled forward by developers trying to lock in supply — outcomes that can soften the pricing lift bulls expect.
At $241, Jefferies’ $260 target implies about 8% upside, leaving a narrower margin for surprise. Traders will watch for signs that bookings recover and for any fresh guidance on costs and factory output.
U.S. labor and inflation data are next on the calendar: the December jobs report is due Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET and December CPI follows on Jan. 13. First Solar is scheduled to report results on March 3 after the close, according to TipRanks. Traders also have the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting in view.
