Which Solar Stocks have the Strongest Earnings Trends?
February 14, 2013
Earnings trends are extremely important when evaluating stocks. At Wall St. Cheat Sheet, we view increasing earnings quarter-over-quarter as a simple way to gauge whether costs and the business model are stable. Then we like to analyze whether the company is outperforming peers in the sector. This is what we call the “E-Squared” investment analysis (‘E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter’ + ‘E = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector’).
Stocks with improving earnings metrics are worthy of your extra attention. Click here to discover our CHEAT SHEET stock picks now!
Here’s your Cheat Sheet to how the top 5 solar stocks rank via earnings trends:
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE:WFR): Current Price $4.96
| Fiscal Year | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| Revenue ($) in millions | 2,004 | 1,164 | 2,239 | 2,716 | 2,530 |
| Diluted EPS ($) | 1.69 | -0.31 | 0.15 | -6.68 | -0.66 |
MEMC really hit the skids in 2011, but cuts its losses somewhat in 2012.
Next, our CHEAT SHEET investing framework asks us to drill down to the recent quarterly data:
| Quarter | Dec. 31, 2011 | Mar. 31, 2012 | Jun. 30, 2012 | Sep. 30, 2012 | Dec. 31, 2012 |
| Revenue ($) in millions | 717.80 | 519.20 | 808.40 | 601.60 | 600.70 |
| Diluted EPS ($) | -6.46 | -0.40 | -0.27 | 0.16 | -0.05 |
Except for a bit of black in the September 2012 quarter, we note that EPS has been consistently negative. We’ll pass on this one…
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