Dear Connie, Doris, Greg, Naomi, and Ned,
This hall as worked exceptionally well as a team. You are to be commended for a fine job of thorough research, with great teamwork and communication between students. You stuck together to complete a job very well done! Thank you so very much for participating in the first TechniTrader® case study. Sincerely, Adrienne

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POLE VAULT STUDY HALL - WEEK 5 REVIEW

Outstanding week 5 summary.

I am impressed with your concise detail. Very well written. The main concern now is FSLR calling for lower revenues this year. FSLR also needs to really come out more aggressively in terms of marketing solar panels.

And finally, although it is great that FSLR is recycling their products, the issue of harmful products still remains.

FSLR must also contend with a growing number of little solar companies that are trying to create a better solar panel with non polluting products.

I agree FSLR is a contender, but waiting to see how it performs this year is a wise decision.

I am so proud of all of you,
Great work throughout the program.

Martha
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My thanks to all team members for your great participation and the sharing of your knowledge, this case study has been a great learning catalyst for me. In addition, my thanks to Martha and her staff for this wonderful experience.

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POLE VAULT STUDY HALL - WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

On our first week as we embarked on our first assignment; four out of five members agreed with the selection of First Solar Inc., as our designated company to evaluate. However; as the group worked through the assignments as a "team" our fifth member became a believer in FSLR's current position to be one of the top companies in solar power. The group made the decision to select FSLR based on the company’s strengths: They are the largest manufacturer of solar modules and are also noted for an advanced process used to build modules for both commercial and residential; the company’s strong fundamentals, increasing revenues and earnings; institutional ownership; strong marketing and management team and the fact that they have met their goal being the first to achieve the lowest cost per watt - under $1.

Second week the two barriers we focused on were #7 - Insufficient trained personnel to service solar energy products, and Solar Market barrier #2 - A complete lack of solar product standards. We concluded that FSLR does have an indirect positive impact on the market barrier of insufficient trained personnel to service solar energy products; FSLR sells its product only to certified system integrators. Solar installations are done through this network of FSLR certified system integrators. We decided that this trained personnel burden lies with their integration partners. We learned that FSLR has invested money in their certified system integrators, which in turn are addressing this issue.

#2- Standards for the product are a direct concern for FSLR, and we could recognize their involvement by the support demonstrated for the National Laboratory and the DOE nominating CdTe for inclusion in the National Toxicology Program. Furthermore, they have developed procedures to protect the environment by recycling the modules at the end of their useful lives.

Third week we identified that FSLR is a volatile and high-risk stock, the company has lowered their 2009 revenue projections, lack of volume and BOP being almost non-existent, it looks as though the stock might continue to retrace. We concluded that now is not the time to enter this stock, but it does warrant putting it on a watch list to see what the 2nd QTR 2009 brings for the company. 


Fourth week we identified 7 of the 12 prerequisites for long term trading to be positive, 4 to be neutral, and only one negative. We concluded that First Solar Inc., is well on it’s way to achieve being the leader in the solar industry, and that it has what it takes to attain market dominance. 


Team’s Position: For it. The team believe that this company has proven it’s self as a good company to invest in; and though it might be a little sluggish at this time, it has managed to generate accelerated revenues and net income during one of the most difficult markets ever. They manage to expand their market share, and they have mange to expand their manufacturing throughput while reducing cost. It’s Management has been able to keep the stock price and cash levels high giving them the ability to continue to expand the company with their continuous acquisitions of smaller competitors.

Connie
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I don’t have something for 5th assignment in addition to what Connie, Doris, and Greg have done already... Nice Job!

I really enjoyed working together as a team and learned a lot. Thank you all!