Why First Solar, Inc.'s Shares Popped 23% Today

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) continues to exceed investors' expectations in 2017, and it may have an even brighter future than investors expected. Shares rose as much as 23.1% in trading Friday after the company reported third-quarter 2017 results. At 1:15 p.m. EDT, shares were still trading 18.7% higher on the day.

Revenue jumped 59.6% to $1.09 billion on the back of the sale of the California Flats and Cuyama projects. Net income was up 36.7% versus a year ago to $205.7 million, or $1.95 per share, easily surpassing the $0.83 analysts were expecting. Management also said First Solar booked 4.5 GW of future sales in the quarter and has added 6.7 GW to the backlog, or nearly two years of production, in 2017.

Image source: First Solar.

Source: Fool.com