First Solar stock price drops after investors react to executive's tariff comments

First Solar's stock fell on Wednesday after investors reacted to the "significant challenges" that CEO Mark Widmar said President Donald Trump’s tariffs presented to the solar module maker.

The company’s shares fell over 7.5% on Wednesday, the day after First Solar released its first-quarter financial results and held its earnings call to discuss them.

Widmar told analysts and investors on the call that the Trump administration’s tariffs "introduced significant challenges to 2025 that were not known at the start of the year."

In early April, Trump put in place a baseline levy of 10% for goods imported from foreign countries and "individualized reciprocal higher" tariffs on certain nations. The president later announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs and opted to apply a 10% duty during that period on countries that had not retaliated against the U.S.

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Widmar said the original levy rates against India, Malaysia and Vietnam presented a "significant economic headwind for our manufacturing facilities in these countries selling into the U.S. market."

"While the subsequent 90-day pause to the effectiveness of these tariffs and the application of a 10% universal tariff partially mitigates the impact, the lower rate would still result in a meaningful adverse gross margin impact to sales into the United States, absent the duty being fully passed through to the module buyer," he continued.

Its facilities in Malaysia and Vietnam largely make products for the U.S., according to Widmar. The factory in India, he said, does so for the country’s domestic market and America. 

Widmar said additional "uncertainty" about what will happen with the tariffs once the 90 days have elapsed has also "created a challenge to quantifying the precise tariff rate that would be applied to our module shipments into and beyond the second half of the year." 

First Solar is looking to move away from exports to the U.S. from its India manufacturing site, with plans to lean more into that country’s domestic market, according to the CEO. 

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Meanwhile, he said the company continues to "evaluate best options to optimize production" at its Malaysia and Vietnam facilities "in a potentially reduced U.S. demand environment for non-domestic product, but are mindful that we may need to further reduce or idle production at one or both of these locations, especially if the announced reciprocal tariffs are put in place." 

However, First Solar thinks the "long-term outlook for solar demand, particularly in our core U.S. market, remains strong" and the company is "well-positioned" to capitalize on it, according to Widmar. 

He cited the fact that the company is the "only US headquartered [photovoltaic] manufacturer of scale" for that belief. He also noted First Solar will have a "fully vertically integrated U.S. solar manufacturing presence" in three states and a "large domestic supply chain" by year-end.

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In its first-quarter earnings release, First Solar forecasted net sales for 2025 will be $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion, lower than the $5.3 billion to $5.8 billion in its prior guidance. Its annual earnings per diluted share are also now expected to be $12.50 to $17.50, compared to a previous range of $17.00 to $20.00. 

That guidance was "subject to a variety of assumptions and estimates, including with respect to tariffs and other trade remedies, and certain factors related to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022" such as tax credits, the company said. 

First Solar generated nearly $844.6 million in net sales during the first three months of 2025. Its net income was $209.5 million.