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First Solar FSLR

equity

Price History

$12.56$110.64$208.71$306.79
2006-11 · DCA start$28.3

Time underwater

How far below its previous all-time high the price sat, each month. 0% means a new high.

-95.7%-63.8%-31.9%0.0%
2006-112026-08 · -26.1%

Worst drawdown: −96%, peaking Apr 2008 and bottoming May 2012 — 217 months below the prior high before recovering.

DCA Backtest

Invested
$23,800
Value today
$81,811
Return
+243.7%
Months invested
238

Scenarios

Inflation — the same contributions merely keeping pace with CPI would be $31,863 today, so the real (inflation-adjusted) return is +156.8%.

Lump sum instead — $23,800 all at once in Nov 2006: $190,711 (+701.3%) — lump sum came out ahead.

Worst timing — same monthly amount started at the all-time high (May 2026): $377.48 on $400 invested (-5.6%).

⚠ Price returns only — dividends are not included. This understates the true return of dividend-paying shares, and any comparison against crypto (which pays no dividends) is biased against equities by roughly the dividend yield, compounded.

If this saved you a spreadsheet — buy me a coffee.

Every start month at once

Each cell is the return-to-date of £/$/€100-a-month DCA started that month. Click a cell to load it in the backtest above. The ringed cell is the all-time-high start — the worst timing scenario.

JFMAMJJASOND
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Legend:−50%−20%0%+50%+200%+1000%worst timing (ATH)Selected 2006-11: +243.7%

About First Solar

First Solar, Inc. is an American publicly traded manufacturer of solar panels. First Solar uses rigid thin-film modules for its solar panels, and produces CdTe panels using cadmium telluride (CdTe) as a semiconductor. The predecessor company, Solar Cells, Inc., was founded in 1990 by inventor Harold McMaster. In 1999, Solar Cells, Inc., was purchased by True North Partners, LLC, led by Michael Ahearn, and rebranded as First Solar, Inc. (Wikipedia)

It's a listed company categorised under information technology and semiconductors, with a market cap of about $24.4B.

It rates Medium-Low Risk at 2.2/5, meaning the rated factors are mostly sound, with one or two areas worth watching.

What pushes the score up: market / volatility (4.3/5) and earnings quality (3.0/5).

Scoring well: sector / regulatory at 1.0/5.

Not yet researched: concentration, governance. These are excluded from the score rather than guessed, so the real risk may be higher than what’s shown.

Ratings summarise sourced facts against fixed rules — not investment advice, and no substitute for your own diligence.

Risk Profile

Medium-Low Risk(2.2/5)80% rated

How these ratings work

Market / Volatility4.3/5 · weight 20%
  • Annualised volatility (3yr)4/555.1
  • Max drawdown from ATH5/595.7
  • Beta vs S&P 5004/51.5
Liquidity1.0/5 · weight 15%
  • Avg daily $ volume1/5628.9m
  • Float % of shares outstandingnot yet researched
Leverage / Financial1.0/5 · weight 20%
  • Debt / equity1/50.00
  • Interest coverage (EBIT / interest)not yet researched
Earnings Quality3.0/5 · weight 15%
  • 3yr EPS volatility3/526.2
Concentrationunrated · weight 10%
  • Largest customer, % of revenuenot yet researched
  • Geographic revenue concentrationnot yet researched
Governanceunrated · weight 10%
  • Board independence %not yet researched
  • Share structurenot yet researched
  • Litigation / audit historynot yet researched
Sector / Regulatory1.0/5 · weight 10%
  • Sector regulatory exposure1/5low

Linked Assets

Same sector, or return-correlated — worth knowing what else might move if this one does.