The shares of First Solar (FSLR), first discussed here on February 1, 2010, at a price of $113.81, continue to progress, but it's been a wild ride and the shares definitely are not for squeamish investors.

First Solar should post a 20% to 25% revenue increase in 2010, and a 30% to 40% revenue increase in 2011, and it's those eye-opening growth rates that have attracted the attention of institutional investors...until China announces a change in its solar policy. At which time FSLR typically plunges, until investors realize that the policy change won't render FSLR's business model completely obsolete. It short, objective events can change quickly in the solar sector, hence FSLR's high-risk stock designation.

Analysts at JPMorgan are recommending call options for anxious investors in First Solar (FSLR), according to a note to clients released this morning. Specifically, the brokerage firm said that shareholders who've grown skeptical with lower earnings from First Solar might want to consider replacing their shares with call options.

With FSLR currently trading near $125, the firm is recommending that clients swap out their stock for December 125 calls. These intermediate-term options will cost you about $14.30, at last check, which means that FSLR must rise above $139.30 prior to December expiration before you'll begin seeing profits.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) saw shares rise following its report of better-than-expected Q1 earnings.
• Beazer Homes USA Inc. (BZH) posted a Q2 profit and revenue growth, and announced a stock offering.
• CBS Corp. (CBS) reported improvements in both Q1 net income and cash flow, but shares declined.
• Clorox Co. (CLX) posted Q3 earnings that were higher than analysts had expected and offered weak guidance.
• First Solar Inc. (FSLR) reported quarterly earnings that easily topped analysts' expectations.

First Solar (FSLR), which I first discussed here on Feb. 1, 2010 at a price of $113.81, is off to a good start in 2010, and I obviously still like the shares here.

First Solar posted first quarter earnings per share of $2.00 -- well above the $1.63 First Call estimate. That puts FSLR on pace for a 25% to 35% revenue increase in 2010.

Also, look for FSLR to increase its capacity to about 1.34 gigawatts by the end of 2010 from 1.23 gigawatts in 2009.

Bronte Capital recently expressed a bit of negative sentiment regarding First Solar (FSLR). Well, if there's anything I find more fun than assessing a company's strengths and weaknesses, it's analyzing the statements issued by stock analysts. Now, let's have some fun.

First, understand that Bronte Capital has issued its statement from an openly declared short position. In essence that means Bronte will tell you what it needs to in order to cover said position. Can you say biased opinion? Bronte Capital can.

A stock with room to rise, such is the current condition of First Solar Inc. (FSLR). On the one hand we have an analyst consensus of hold, due to the loss of subsidies in the company's primary market and remarkably low natural gas prices. On the other hand, we have overt optimism about the company from none other than Dow Jones, and brokerage price targets that go as high as $200. In cases such as this, I like to take a step back to look at the big picture.

FSLR is just beginning to rise from a 52-week low. The company's balance sheet is rock solid, its reputation is gleaming, and the market for its goods is strong. Estimates indicate that the global volume of solar installations slated for 2010 will be nearly double the 2009 level of 6.4 gigawatts.

Alternative energy issue First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) attracted the attention of a skeptical options trader today. Not long after the opening bell, a skeptically skewed short call spread crossed the tape on FSLR, with the speculator betting on lackluster price action during the short term.

Around 10:35 a.m., a block of 236 April 120 calls traded near the ask price, suggesting they were purchased. Simultaneously, a matching block of 236 April 115 calls changed hands near the bid price, indicating they were most likely sold. With FSLR trading around $110 at last check, both of these options are out of the money.

Today was the one-year anniversary of the stock market's peak selling day. The DJIA is up about 61% from the March 9, 2009 close. Despite many stocks being higher and transports being higher, today was one of those days where the gains were almost taken away entirely toward the end of the day, and whether market would end the day up or down was not really guessable until right before the 4PM close.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,564.53 +12.01 (0.11%)
S&P 500 1,140.43 +1.93 (0.17%)
Nasdaq 2,340.68 +8.47 (0.36%)

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Confusion ... That is how traders and investors interpreted today. The Fed raised the discount rate to 0.75% from 0.5% but did not raise the Fed Funds Rate. The Federal Reserve governors were also somehow able to put it into everyone's head that Fed Funds may stay here at the near-zero for some time and that this was part of many steps in an unwinding of the major liquidity events of the last 18 months. We had a very tame CPI report, a welcoming sign after a heated PPI yesterday. So it is just wholesale inflation for now. But a CNBC headline described today perfectly: "Markets Misread Fed's Rate Move as Central Bank Stumbles."

Here were today's unofficial closing levels:

Dow 10,402.35 +9.45 (0.09%)
S&P 500 1,109.17 +2.42 (0.22%)
Nasdaq 2,243.87 +2.16 (0.10%)

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The first play with First Solar (FSLR) did not work out, to say the least: stopped out at $115 after an initial buy recommendation at $184.50 on June 2, 2009. Talk about haircuts.

Well, the calculation here is that FSLR is now slightly undervalued at $116, but the qualifiers abound for this play, so attention is advised.

PPI came in at +0.2% and the core PPI was unchanged. This sounded good, but China put the hex on the market by curbing its overextended businesses by asking lenders to stop making loans for the rest of the month. The dollar went higher on Greek woes again, and both the Greek impact on the US dollar strength and the China news took a bite out of commodity prices.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,583.73 -141.70 (-1.32%)
S&P 500 1,138.04 -12.19 (-1.06%)
Nasdaq 2,291.25 -29.15 (-1.26%)

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Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) shares rose after lower Q4 earnings and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
• Best Buy Inc. (BBY) shares sold off despite better-than-expected Q3 results due to the lower gross margin.
• Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) warned that Q4 earnings would come in lower than the Street view
• Discover Financial Services (DFS) shares were up after it reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.
• First Solar Inc. (FSLR) offered a solid 2010 outlook but the consensus EPS estimate is high in the range.
• General Mills Inc. (GIS) strong Q2 results included better-than-expected earnings and a rosy outlook.

First Solar (FSLR) is attracting some mixed attention from analysts this morning, after the company offered a solid 2010 outlook last night. The alternative energy issue said it expects sales of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, outpacing analysts' expectations for $2.4 billion.

"2010 is going to be stronger, we think, than 2009," said CEO Robert Gillette. Global demand is expected to reach 7.5 gigawatts, with overall demand projected to rise 35% per year through 2012. However, he added, "We think supply will still exceed demand in 2010."

However, the company's earnings forecast was more modest. FSLR expects 2010 earnings of $6.05 to $6.85 per share, with the low end of this range falling well short of Wall Street's consensus estimate for $6.55 per share.

Sunny skies are here for Ausra, the solar thermal company backed by Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures. The company is looking for a buyer, and it's already talking to three, according to a report by Reuters. Everything is up for grabs, from a majority stake in the company to 100% of it, and the back-and-forth going on is at a "very aggressive level."

The businesses looking to pick up Ausra are said to be global power generation conglomerates but haven't been named yet. So, the clean energy company would be a way for one of them to diversify.

So this earnings season hasn't turned out as bad as some had feared. In fact, we've seen some pretty stellar results from the likes of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO).

Then there was the Fed's Beige Book report, which suggested that the U.S. economy had stabilized -- and even improved a bit in some sectors.

Well, the earnings crunch rolls on this coming week leading up to Halloween. Do analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect more treats or tricks from coming quarterly reports?