Name: First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) | Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
Creator: Stock Analysis on Net

Balance Sheet: Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity

The balance sheet provides creditors, investors, and analysts with information on company resources (assets) and its sources of capital (its equity and liabilities). It normally also provides information about the future earnings capacity of a company assets as well as an indication of cash flows that may come from receivables and inventories.

Liabilities represents obligations of a company arising from past events, the settlement of which is expected to result in an outflow of economic benefits from the entity.

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First Solar Inc., consolidated balance sheet: liabilities and stockholders’ equity

US$ in thousands

	Dec 31, 2023	Dec 31, 2022	Dec 31, 2021	Dec 31, 2020	Dec 31, 2019
Accounts payable	207,178)	341,409)	193,374)	183,349)	218,081)
Income taxes payable	22,134)	29,397)	4,543)	14,571)	17,010)
Accrued property, plant and equipment	210,233)	148,777)	42,031)	66,543)	42,834)
Accrued inventory	101,161)	44,679)	42,170)	25,704)	39,366)
Accrued freight	58,494)	77,136)	61,429)	26,580)	—)
Accrued compensation and benefits	55,960)	47,939)	34,606)	51,685)	65,170)
Accrued other taxes	26,781)	19,765)	23,103)	11,648)	—)
Accrued interest	11,011)	2,920)	—)	—)	—)
Product warranty liability	5,920)	10,660)	13,598)	22,278)	20,291)
Other	55,269)	30,906)	71,513)	106,029)	183,599)
Accrued expenses	524,829)	382,782)	288,450)	310,467)	351,260)
Current portion of debt	96,238)	—)	3,896)	41,540)	17,510)
Deferred revenue	413,579)	263,215)	201,868)	188,813)	323,217)
Liabilities held for sale	—)	—)	—)	25,621)	—)
Accrued litigation	21,800)	—)	—)	—)	363,000)
Operating lease liabilities, current	10,307)	9,193)	12,781)	14,006)	11,102)
Finance lease liabilities, current	51)	—)	—)	—)	—)
Contingent consideration	7,500)	—)	—)	—)	—)
Derivative instruments	1,744)	6,668)	3,550)	5,280)	2,582)
Other	798)	5,384)	18,416)	63,751)	14,446)
Other current liabilities	42,200)	21,245)	34,747)	83,037)	391,130)
Current liabilities	1,306,158)	1,038,048)	726,878)	847,398)	1,318,208)
Accrued solar module collection and recycling liability	135,123)	128,114)	139,145)	130,688)	137,761)
Long-term debt, noncurrent portion	464,068)	184,349)	236,005)	237,691)	454,187)
Deferred revenue	1,591,604)	944,725)	95,943)	44,919)	71,438)
Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent	36,662)	40,589)	145,912)	189,034)	112,515)
Finance lease liabilities, noncurrent	17,063)	—)	—)	—)	—)
Deferred tax liabilities, net	42,771)	28,929)	27,699)	23,671)	6,493)
Other taxes payable	39,431)	13,284)	—)	—)	—)
Product warranty liability	19,571)	23,127)	38,955)	72,818)	109,506)
Transition tax liability	—)	—)	—)	—)	70,047)
Contingent consideration	11,000)	—)	—)	—)	4,500)
Other	14,212)	14,008)	43,658)	41,784)	134,267)
Other liabilities	180,710)	119,937)	256,224)	327,307)	437,328)
Noncurrent liabilities	2,371,505)	1,377,125)	727,317)	740,605)	1,100,714)
Total liabilities	3,677,663)	2,415,173)	1,454,195)	1,588,003)	2,418,922)
Common stock, $0.001 par value per share	107)	107)	106)	106)	105)
Additional paid-in capital	2,890,427)	2,887,476)	2,871,352)	2,866,786)	2,849,376)
Accumulated earnings	3,971,066)	3,140,289)	3,184,455)	2,715,762)	2,326,620)
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(174,131)	(191,817)	(96,362)	(61,726)	(79,334)
Stockholders’ equity	6,687,469)	5,836,055)	5,959,551)	5,520,928)	5,096,767)
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity	10,365,132)	8,251,228)	7,413,746)	7,108,931)	7,515,689)

Based on: 10-K (reporting date: 2023-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2022-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2021-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2020-12-31), 10-K (reporting date: 2019-12-31).

The overall financial position from 2019 to 2023 is characterized by a substantial expansion in both total liabilities and stockholders' equity, resulting in a total balance sheet growth from 7.52 billion to 10.37 billion. While liabilities experienced a period of contraction between 2020 and 2021, a sharp upward trajectory followed, primarily driven by an unprecedented increase in deferred revenue.

Liability Trends and Composition: Total liabilities fluctuated significantly over the five-year period, decreasing from 2.42 billion in 2019 to a low of 1.45 billion in 2021, before surging to 3.68 billion by the end of 2023. This growth is predominantly localized in noncurrent liabilities, which rose from 1.10 billion in 2019 to 2.37 billion in 2023.
Analysis of Deferred Revenue: A critical driver of the balance sheet expansion is the noncurrent deferred revenue, which grew exponentially from 71.4 million in 2019 to 1.59 billion in 2023. This suggests a significant increase in advance payments or contractual obligations for future delivery, indicating strong future revenue pipelines but increasing the company's current performance obligations.
Current Liabilities and Operational Accruals: Current liabilities returned to 2019 levels by 2023, totaling 1.31 billion. There is a notable increase in accrued expenses, which climbed from 351.3 million in 2019 to 524.8 million in 2023. Specifically, accrued property, plant, and equipment grew from 42.8 million to 210.2 million, reflecting increased capital investment activity.
Debt Profile and Long-term Obligations: Long-term debt showed a volatile trend, declining from 454.2 million in 2019 to 184.3 million in 2022, before rebounding to 464.1 million in 2023. This suggests a strategic shift in financing or a recent capital raise. Additionally, the current portion of debt spiked to 96.2 million in 2023 after being negligible in 2022.
Stockholders' Equity and Retained Earnings: Stockholders' equity demonstrated consistent growth, increasing from 5.10 billion in 2019 to 6.69 billion in 2023. This expansion was primarily fueled by accumulated earnings, which rose from 2.33 billion to 3.97 billion, indicating strong profitability and the retention of earnings to support growth. This organic growth in equity has helped maintain a stable solvency profile despite the increase in total liabilities.
Other Liability Observations: Product warranty liabilities showed a steady downward trend, with both current and noncurrent warranty obligations decreasing from a combined total of approximately 130 million in 2019 to roughly 25 million in 2023, suggesting improvements in product quality or a change in warranty estimation methodologies.

In summary, the balance sheet reveals a transition toward a more capital-intensive operation with a heavy reliance on deferred revenue. The growth in accumulated earnings provides a robust equity cushion that offsets the recent increase in long-term debt and operational liabilities.

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