Summary

  • First Solar and Coursera are two such companies that have received rating upgrades from brokers.
  • First Solar’s net sales for the June 2023 quarter of US$ 811 million beats analysts’ consensus estimate of US$720 million.
  • Coursera reported total revenue for the June 2023 quarter of US$153.7 million, an increase of 23% from the previous corresponding period.

As companies report their financial results during this earnings season, analysts have revised their ratings on stocks based on these results. First Solar and Coursera are two such companies that have received rating upgrades from brokers.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) and Coursera Inc. (NYSE: COUR) released their financial results for the June 2023 quarter on July 27, 2023. The companies were upgraded to a ‘buy’ rating by analysts soon after their financial results were released.

Here is a closer look at what prompted analysts to upgrade their ratings on these stocks:

First Solar plans fifth factory in US

For the June 2023 quarter, First Solar reported net sales of US$811 million, which was an increase of US$262 million from the previous quarter. As per EODHD/Others, the company’s net sales for the quarter beat analysts’ estimate of US$720 million.

Alongside these financial results, FSLR also announced that it would spend US$1.1 billion on its fifth US factory. The new factory is expected to increase FSLR’s manufacturing capacity by a third to 14 GW.

Image source: ©2023 Kalkine®; Data source: Company Reports

FSLR currently has a mean recommendation rating of 2 on a scale of one to five and it has a consensus mean price target of US$208.4. This is 41.38% higher than FSLR’s closing price of US$208.4 on Friday, July 28, 2023.

A day after First Solar released its financial results, Cowen and Company increased its rating on FSLR to ‘outperform’ and Roth MKM increased its rating to ‘buy’. Meanwhile, Guggenheim Securities and Oppenheimer & Co raised their rating on the stock to ‘buy’ and ‘outperform’, respectively.

Analysts raise price targets on Coursera

As per EODHD/Others data, Coursera has a mean recommendation rating of 2.1 on a scale of one to five. The stock has a consensus mean price target of US$17.9, an upside potential of 16.92% over Friday’s closing price of US$15.31.

Coursera’s total revenue for the June 2023 quarter was US$153.7 million, an increase of 23% from the previous corresponding period. It also announced a revision to its third quarter revenue outlook. Now it expects Q3 revenue to fall in the range of US$156 to US$160 million.

Image source: ©2023 Kalkine®; Data source: Company Reports

Meanwhile, its full year 2023 revenue is expected to be in the range of US$617 million to US$623 million owing to strong demand for entry-level professional certificates. Broker Raymond James also stated that consumer segment looks resilient even though Coursera’s enterprise segment decelerates.

Data on EODHD/Others suggests that Cantor Fitzgerald increased its rating on COUR to ‘overweight’ on July 27, 2023. Keybanc Capital Markets retained its ’overweight’ rating and Needham retained its ‘buy’ rating on COUR.