First Solar’s sales decline amid ongoing supply chain bottlenecks

First Solar‘s net sales declined during the third quarter, the company said Thursday, amid ongoing supply chain issues.

Shares of First Solar slid as much as 2% in after hours trading following the quarterly report.

Here’s how the company did versus analysts’ expectations, as compiled by Refinitiv:

• Earnings: 42 cents per share
• Revenue: $584 million vs $685 million expected

Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn 59 cents per share. It was not immediately clear whether the reported number is comparable to estimates.

The third-quarter results compare with EPS of 77 cents per share on revenue of $629 million in Q2, and $1.45 per share on revenue of $928 million in the year-ago quarter.

First Solar said it produced 2 gigawatts of modules during the third quarter, despite ongoing challenges around freight and from the pandemic. During the period the company started construction and purchased equipment for new factories in Ohio and India.

The company reiterated its full-year 2021 net sales guidance of between $2.88 billion and $3.1 billion. The company lifted its expected cash from a prior high-end forecast of $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion, while saying it expects capital expenditures for the full-year to be lower than previously thought.

For 2021 First Solar expects to ship between 7.6 gigawatts and 8 gigawatts of products.