Investors have bailed on First Solar Inc (NASDAQ: FSLR) in recent sessions after the US Senate backed removal of subsidies for solar companies that President Trump proposed last month in his “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”.
Still, RBC analysts led by Christopher Dendrinos remain convinced that FSLR may actually prove a bright spot in an industry that’s otherwise “toast” after the upper chamber’s recent nod on cutting incentives.
Following a massive decline over the past month, First Solar stock is down more than 25% versus its year-to-date high.
Why is First Solar stock insulated from Trump’s spending bill?
Dendrinos is confident that FSLR shares will prove resilient and more insulated than other renewable energy stocks from the potential impact of the Senate’s recent decision on the solar industry, primarily because it’s a utility-scale operator.
“We believe utility solar will be more resilient [since] these projects are not limited by the leasing restrictions,” he told clients in a research note on Friday.
First Solar drives most of its business from large-cap companies like Amazon and Meta Platforms, instead of households.
In 2025, these names rely rather aggressively on solar farms to power their artificial intelligence data centres. So, the demand outlook for FSLR remains strong as ever since subsidies and discounts don’t matter much for its multi-billion-dollar customers.
“If you [build] a data center, energy power is like 7% of the cost. If 7% of the cost [becomes] 9% of the cost, do you think they will stop this project? I do not think so,” argued Per Lekander, the founder of Clean Energy Transition, in a recent interview with CNBC.
That’s actually part of the reason why First Solar shares, despite the recent crash, are still up more than 20% versus their year-to-date low in early April.
Is it worth buying FSLR shares at current levels?
Lekander sees the recent pullback in FSLR stock as a raging “buying opportunity” as there aren’t any practical alternatives for the Tempe headquartered manufacturer of solar panels.
“If you were to go and try to do a gas turbine, you’d probably get it delivered in 2033. If you want to build a nuclear plant, it’s 2040. A solar plant, you can do it one year,” he told CNBC this week.
Lekander sees the company’s utility-scale operations as such a massive advantage that he’s convinced First Solar stock could as much as double from current levels.
What’s also worth mentioning here is that solar power, even without tax credits, arguably retains its value proposition compared to fossil fuels.
That’s partly why the rest of Wall Street hasn’t thrown in the towel on First Solar stock either. The consensus rating on FSLR shares remains at “overweight” with the mean target of $202, indicating potential upside of nearly 40% from current levels.
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