First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, everyone, and welcome to First Solar's 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Mark Widmar, Chief Executive Officer of First Solar, Inc. Mr. Widmar, you may begin.

All right. Thank you. I'd like to welcome you to the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of First Solar, Inc. Today's virtual-only meeting is a live webcast. We believe in engaging with our stockholders and hope that this virtual meeting will maximize the participation of stockholders regardless of their location. This technology enables us to reach a larger audience while also containing our costs. Thank you for taking the time to participate today. On behalf of the Board, I also wish to express thanks to those stockholders who have submitted their proxies in advance. Participating with me today are Alex Bradley, Chief Financial Officer; Jason Dymbort, General Counsel and Secretary; and John Russo, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers. We're also joined by the following directors: Molly Joseph, Lead Independent Director and member of the Audit and Nominating and Governance Committees; Paul Stebbins, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and member of the Audit and Compensation Committee; Mike Sweeney, Chair of the Compensation Committee and member of the Nominating and Governance Committee; Rick Chapman, member of the Audit and Compensation Committees; Anita George, member of the Technology Committee. I call your attention to the rules of conduct set forth for this meeting. These are made available to each stockholder in the meeting center. We ask participants to abide by these rules so that we can conduct an orderly meeting. If you need a copy of the annual report or the proxy statement, these links are also available online in the meeting center. To access the links, click on the Broadcast button at the top of the screen to navigate back to the meeting center. Only registered stockholders are entitled to participate in the business of the meeting. The business to be conducted at this meeting is as follows: to elect 12 members of the Board of Directors to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until their respective successors have been elected and qualified; to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as First Solar, Inc.'s independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2023; to provide an advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers; and to provide an advisory vote on the frequency of shareholder votes on executive compensation. While we'll be soliciting your questions throughout the meeting, feel free to poise a question at any time. [Operator Instructions] In accordance with the bylaws of the company, as appointed by the Chairman of the company's Board of Directors, I will act as Chair of the meeting. In accordance with the bylaws of the company, Jason Dymbort, the General Counsel and Secretary of the company, will act as secretary of the meeting. Christal Goldman of Computershare Trust Company, N.A., the transfer agent for the company, has been appointed as inspector of election for this meeting. She has taken her oath of office and will be filed -- which will be filed with the records of this meeting. I now ask that Mr. Dymbort give the secretary's report on the qualifications of this meeting to proceed.

Thank you, Mark. The notice calling this meeting was mailed on March 30, 2023, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 20, 2023. And the company has received an affidavit of mailing from the company's transfer agent as to its mailing. The affidavit of mailing is available for inspection by any stockholder and shall be retained with the records of this meeting. Since March 30, 2023, the proxy statement, the form of proxy and the annual report to security holders have been available to stockholders on the company's website in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission's notice and access rules. In addition, the proxies and certified list of stockholders are in the custody of the inspector of election. For more than 10 days prior to this meeting, the stockholders list was available for inspection by stockholders during normal business hours at our corporate headquarters located at 350 West Washington Street, Suite 600 in Tempe, Arizona. Also the company's audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, are provided online. Pursuant to the bylaws of the company, the holders of the majority and total voting power of the outstanding capital stock of the company entitled to vote at a meeting of the stockholders present in person or represented by proxy constitute a quorum for the company's annual meeting. Based on the inspector of election's preliminary report on attendance and proxy share count, I have been advised by the inspector of election that a quorum is present at this meeting. When delivered, a copy of the inspector of election's report on attendance shall be retained with the records of this meeting. As notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with applicable law and there is a quorum present, all legal requirements for holding this meeting have been satisfied. Following the formal portion of this meeting, Mark and Alex will present an overview of the company's business and address questions that are submitted. Please note, this presentation and the ensuing question-and-answer session may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations. We encourage you to view the safe harbor statements contained in today's presentation for a more complete description.

All right. Thank you, Jason. This meeting is lawfully convened and ready to transact business. The proxy statement, which was made available to the stockholders in connection with the notice of this meeting, sets forth the matters to be submitted to a vote of the stockholders. At this time, if you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so by clicking on the link provided online. Any stockholder who has already voted and does not want to change his or her vote need not take any further action. We now proceed to the matters to be voted on. First item to be voted on is the election of directors to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until their respective successors have been elected and qualified. The proxy statement lists the director nominees, all of whom are currently serving as directors of the company. Each nominee has consented to act as a director for the ensuing year. The director nominees as set forth in the proxy statement are: Michael Ahearn, Richard Chapman, Anita George, George Hambro, Molly Joseph, Craig Kennedy, Lisa Kro, William Post, Paul Stebbins, Michael Sweeney, Mark Widmar and Norman Wright. Are there any comments or questions concerning the election of directors? Okay. The next item of business is the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as First Solar's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2023. At this time, John Russo, a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is in attendance and available to answer any appropriate questions and to make a statement if he wishes. John, do you wish to make a statement?

No, thank you, Mark.

I will pause now to allow for any comments or questions concerning the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered public accounting firm. Okay. The next item of business is the advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers. Are there any comments or questions concerning the advisory vote to approve the compensation of First Solar's named executive officers? Okay. The next item of business is the advisory vote on the frequency of shareholder votes on executive compensation. Are there any comments or questions concerning the advisory vote on the frequency of shareholder votes on executive compensation? Okay. [Voting]

I hereby declare the polls closed. The formal portion of this meeting is hereby concluded. The inspector of election will now tabulate the votes, during which time, Alex and I will present an overview of the company's business and answer any questions you may have. We will report the results of the voting before the close of the meeting. Okay. Turning to Slide 6. I want to highlight the market opportunity before us. As shown in the graph to the left, the amount of utility-scale PV deployment in the United States is expected to double in the next 5 years. As shown on the graph to the right, PV, on an unsubsidized basis in many markets, has a levelized cost of energy, which, in most cases, is competitive with other forms of fossil fuel generation. Accordingly, the market momentum for PV continues to build. Turning to Slide 7. We will continue to adapt our business model to remain competitive in a constantly evolving market through our point of differentiation, which includes a competitively advantaged CadTel thin-film module technology and a vertically integrated continuous manufacturing process. We have created a resilient business model that better enables us to manage through the periods of growth and uncertainty. Overall, I'm pleased with our manufacturing execution which stems from our proprietary technology, which enables us to produce CadTel modules within a single factory in a matter of hours. This vertically integrated manufacturing process provides us with end-to-end manufacturing control and superior supply chain transparency for our customers. By contrast, the largest PV module manufacturers globally produce crystalline silicon modules using a batch-based technology with multiple process steps, often across multiple factories and continents. As a result, production of a single crystalline silicon module can take multiple days. Turning to Slide 8. We continue to expand our manufacturing nameplate capacity. We exited 2022 with 9.8 gigawatts and recently commenced initial production of our next-generation Series 7 factory in Ohio. By the end of 2026, we expect to have 21.4 gigawatts, including Series 7 factories in Alabama and India and further expansion of our existing facilities in Ohio. Turning to Slide 9. Our approach to responsible solar is interwoven into every aspect of our business and product life cycle from raw material sourcing to end-of-life recycling. We are addressing environmental impacts across the product life cycle by providing PV modules with the lowest environmental footprint, reducing our operational impacts by committing to go over -- go to 100% renewable by 2028, and have a unique and long-standing leadership position in solar PV recycling as the world's largest manufacturer and global in-house module recycling capabilities, providing high-value recycling services to our customers. At First Solar, innovation and passionate people working ethically and safely form the foundation of our success. We are committed to providing a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace for all of our associates and ensure we operate a responsible supply chain with zero tolerance for forced labor. We do not source any module components from Xinjiang, China, which mitigates supply chain disruption and human rights risk. On governance perspective, we have been publicly reporting on our sustainability performance for over a decade and have the first PV products listed in the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool registry for sustainable electronics. EPEAT is a globally recognized and independently validated ecolabel, which enforces our sustainability credentials. In 2021, we became a member of the Responsible Business Alliance in an effort to strengthen our responsible sourcing program. Turning to Slide 10, providing a little more detail on our environmentally sustainable advantage. First Solar is contributing to a circular economy by converting mining byproducts into leading eco-efficient PV technology that can be manufactured using less energy, water and semiconductor material than other commercially available PV technologies. Secondly, due to our resource-efficient manufacturing process, our thin-film modules have the lowest carbon and water footprint and the fastest energy payback available in the market today. Thirdly, we design our products for high-value recycling to maximize materials recovered at the end-of-life and recover more than 90% of the module materials for reuse in new PV panels and other products. As the world's largest PV recycler, we have over 15 years of experience operating high-value PV recycling facilities on a global scale. I'll now hand the call over to Alex, who will discuss our 2022 and Q1 2023 financial performance.