Financial

First Solar, Inc. (fslr) – Financial And Strategic Swot Analysis Review

Financial blogger

July, 23, 2014 : Company Profiles and Conferences presents a Company Report on “First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) – Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review”, who helps you formulate strategies that augment your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better.

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) – Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review provides you an in-depth strategic SWOT analysis of the companys businesses and operations. The profile is bring to you a clear and an unbiased view of the companys key strengths and weaknesses and the potential opportunities and threats. The profile helps you formulate strategies that augment your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better.

The profile contains critical company information including:

– Business description A detailed description of the companys operations and business divisions.
– Corporate strategy Analysts summarization of the companys business strategy.
– SWOT Analysis A detailed analysis of the companys strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
– Company history Progression of key events associated with the company.
– Major products and services A list of major products, services and brands of the company.
– Key competitors A list of key competitors to the company.
– Key employees A list of the key executives of the company.
– Executive biographies A brief summary of the executives employment history.
– Key operational heads A list of personnel heading key departments/functions.
– Important locations and subsidiaries A list and contact details of key locations and subsidiaries of the company.
– Detailed financial ratios for the past five years The latest financial ratios derived from the annual financial statements published by the company with 5 years history.
– Interim ratios for the last five interim periods The latest financial ratios derived from the quarterly/semi-annual financial statements published by the company for 5 interims history.

Highlights

First Solar, Inc. (First Solar) manufactures and sells photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. The company’s major products include PV Modules and Utility-Scale PV Systems. It also provides variety of integrated services to its clients, including solar power systems design, engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services, project development, project financing, operating and maintenance and others. The company’s sells its products to system integrators, operators of renewable energy projects and project developers. First Solar is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, the US.

First Solar focuses on strengthening its business operations by securing new contracts.

First Solar, Inc. Key Recent Developments

May 08, 2014: IXL Group Opens Structure Manufacturing Plant in Adelaide to Supply First Solar Australian
May 06, 2014: First Solar, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2014 Financial Results
May 06, 2014: First Solar to Build 42.76MW for EDF Renewable Energy
Mar 21, 2014: Moapa Paiute Tribe, LADWP and First Solar Break Ground on 250MW Solar Project
Mar 19, 2014: First Solar and GE Shape Next-Generation PV Power Plant

Financial Advice of the Best Kind

Financial blogger

Financial advice is invaluable but it has to be of the best kind. Earning is difficult but equally difficult is managing the earnings. The eternal rule is to cut your coat as per the cloth you have. It is no easy matter. This universal rule applies to all – whether big government entities or the individual. The water flowing down the stream has to be channelized properly; if not there will be floods that will be followed by periods of drought. This cannot be avoided. Hence the proper type of financial guidance is absolutely necessary. But any and everybody cannot give this advice; it is only people who are expert professionals who have the experience that can be guides. Financial advice involves many issues – inheritance, investment, pension, retirement schemes, annuity advice and the like. From where will you get this financial advice? In the Internet Age this is no problem.

Just switch on your computer and sitting cocooned in the comfortable privacy of your own niche at home or office click on Annuity Advice, Financial Adviser London, Financial Adviser Richmond and Financial Adviser Twickenham. Financial planning is not only about disbursement of funds but also how to better your investments so as to increase your earnings. Taxes have to given priority as the slightest mistake might draw penalties. There are worries about retirement and about leaving assets to your inheritors so that they are not troubled. There are many dark corners that have to be lighted up and cleared. It is the era of digital accounting and it is therefore imperative to take professional advice; if not you will be sail off on the ship sans a captain! Financial planning is about yesterday, today and tomorrow. Legends and fables have tried to din in this point from time immemorial. Walt Disney’s timeless classic the Grasshopper and the Ant shows how the grasshopper, unlike the ants, did not work and save in spring, to suffer cold privation during winter. Man too should be careful while the weather is fine because none knows when it might rain.

It is only financial planning that takes into account this probability. In the classic film, the queen of the ants is the expert financial planner. The same message is conveyed in the story of Three Little Pigs. The sibling pigs made three houses each made of straw, sticks and bricks. The Wolf came knocking and could easily blow down the houses made of straw and sticks but could do nothing with the house made of bricks. Sound financial planning are the bricks with which to make your house – the house in which you can sleep safely and soundly even if the weather howls outside. It is bad or lack of financial planning that brought about disaster for many during the 2007 Great Recession of USA. No corner of the world was spared. Only those who had not gambled, those who had built their houses on solid foundations, listening to good financial advice were spared. They took shelter in Noah’s Ark and came out from the crisis unscathed.

Asm International N.v. (asm) – Financial And Strategic Swot Analysis Review

Financial blogger

April, 24, 2014 : Company Profiles and Conferences presents a Company Report on “ASM International N.V. (ASM) – Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review”, provides you an in-depth strategic analysis of the companys businesses and operations. The profile has been compiled by to bring to you a clear and an unbiased view of the companys key strengths and weaknesses and the potential opportunities and threats. The profile helps you formulate strategies that augment your business by enabling you to understand your partners, customers and competitors better.

Summary

ASM International N.V. (ASMI) is a semiconductor process equipment supplier. The companys products include epitaxial reactors, vertical batch furnaces, PECVD reactors, cluster tools, atomic layer deposition tools, PEALD tools, die attach tools, wire bonders, trim and form equipment, encapsulation mold tools, assembly automation and test equipment, and leadframes. It offers semiconductor process equipment for both front-end wafer processing and back-end assembly, and test markets. ASMi supplies its products under brand names Epsilon, Advance, Pulsar, EmerALD, Eagle, and Dragon. Its products are applicable in metal gate layers, capacitor electrodes, gate protection, UV curing, oxidation, anneal, and among others. The company along with its subsidiaries provides production solutions for wafer processing, assembly and packaging of semiconductor devices. It has facilities in the US, Europe, Japan, Korea and Singapore. ASMI is headquartered in Almere, Flevoland, the Netherlands.

This company report forms part of GlobalDatas Profile on Demand service, covering over 50,000 of the worlds leading companies. Once purchased, GlobalDatas highly qualified team of company analysts will comprehensively research and author a full financial and strategic analysis of ASM International N.V. including a detailed SWOT analysis, and deliver this direct to you in pdf format within two business days. (excluding weekends).

The profile contains critical company information including,

– Business description A detailed description of the companys operations and business divisions.
– Corporate strategy Analysts summarization of the companys business strategy.
– SWOT Analysis A detailed analysis of the companys strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
– Company history Progression of key events associated with the company.
– Major products and services A list of major products, services and brands of the company.
– Key competitors A list of key competitors to the company.
– Key employees A list of the key executives of the company.
– Executive biographies A brief summary of the executives employment history.
– Key operational heads A list of personnel heading key departments/functions.
– Important locations and subsidiaries A list and contact details of key locations and subsidiaries of the company.
– Detailed financial ratios for the past five years The latest financial ratios derived from the annual financial statements published by the company with 5 years history.
– Interim ratios for the last five interim periods The latest financial ratios derived from the quarterly/semi-annual financial statements published by the company for 5 interims history.

Key benefits of buying this profile include,

You get detailed information about the company and its operations to identify potential customers and suppliers.
– The profile analyzes the companys business structure, operations, major products and services, prospects, locations and subsidiaries, key executives and their biographies and key competitors.

Understand and respond to your competitors business structure and strategies, and capitalize on their weaknesses. Stay up to date on the major developments affecting the company.
– The companys core strengths and weaknesses and areas of development or decline are analyzed and presented in the profile objectively. Recent developments in the company covered in the profile help you track important events.

Equip yourself with information that enables you to sharpen your strategies and transform your operations profitably.
– Opportunities that the company can explore and exploit are sized up and its growth potential assessed in the profile. Competitive and/or technological threats are highlighted.

Scout for potential investments and acquisition targets, with detailed insight into the companies strategic, financial and operational performance.
– Financial ratio presented for major public companies in the profile include the revenue trends, profitability, growth, margins and returns, liquidity and leverage, financial position and efficiency ratios.

Gain key insights into the company for academic or business research.
– Key elements such as SWOT analysis, corporate strategy and financial ratios and charts are incorporated in the profile to assist your academic or business research needs.

Role Of Personal Financial Planning

Financial blogger

So what role does personal financial planning play? It can be quite a lot to think about, but in essence, it simply asks the question of “What is personal financial planning”. Another question that it asks is “What is in it for me?”. Anyway, what should your personal financial plan consists of? The following information is a guide for the individual and one should take note of individual circumstances in their own context.

Basically, personal financial planning will take into account the following areas: budgeting, savings and investment, insurance, management of “big-ticket” items, cash-flow management. A good financial planning book will let you know that a good financial plan starts with budgeting, and it is true. A budget enables you to decide how much you can spend and keep. Of course, the main idea is to ensure that your outgoings (expenses) do not exceed your incomings (income). This will create excess funds with which to save and invest.

Savings and investment are similar, yet different in its objectives. Both are money left over; after your expenses are deducted from your income, and kept for certain objectives. But that is where the similarity ends. The difference between both lies mainly in their objectives and time frame. Essentially, savings are meant to be and can be withdrawn at a moment’s notice or within a short time-frame. The returns from savings tend to be quite low. Just think of how much your bank savings account can get you. Investments tend to be less liquid (depending on the type of investment instruments) and have a longer time frame. The returns from investment can be much higher than savings, but so is the risk level. Depending on the type of investment, one may lose even the capital sum.

Insurance must definitely be part of robust personal financial planning. A big portion of the role of personal financial planning is to make sure that one has the ability to carry on living in case of some unfortunate events, both big and small. In essence, insurance provides a safety net to provide some form of financial assistance when one meets with events like accidents, disabilities or illnesses. One major way which insurance can help is that it also provides peace of mind, knowing that financial assistance is at hand in the event when things do not go the way it should be. This peace of mind leaves one with the energy and confidence to move forward to do the things we need to do.

Think very carefully when deciding on purchase for “big-ticket” items. These items could really be essentials like houses or cars for transportation. Yet other items may be considered luxury items like expensive sound systems. There is really no right or wrong answer on what are the “right” items one can purchase. Everybody buys things for for their own reasons – some which may seem totally irrational to outsiders. However, as a guide, the main rule of thumb in personal financial planning is never to put out cash for something you cannot afford.

Making purchases on credit is usually not a good idea. The credit card companies do a marvelous job of convincing us that spending on credit is alright and that we should not delay our purchases until we can afford to buy them in cash. Spending future money (that is what spending on credit means), and in the process chalking up consumer debt is really not sound. Usually, the right choice will be to delay the purchases until you can afford to buy them with the money you already have.

There are of course exceptions to this rule of thumb on financial planning. But the exceptions are not many. One main exception is the use of credit to purchase a property to stay or for investment. Not many people can afford to pay up a house purchase at one go. A person may have to wait a whole life-time if he intends to wait until he can fully pay for it in one lump-sum cash. Buying property for investment may be a good idea if you know what you are doing. The essential is that what you pay to the bank in bank loan and interests is more than offset by the returns on the property purchase. This is the concept of using “other people’s money” to make money for yourself. There are a lot more details to look at in this type of investment. So do proceed with much caution.

The role of financial planning is simply this – to allow you to follow your own personal financial plan based on your own financial and non-financial situation so that your financial objectives at various milestones of your life can be accomplished. It helps to lessen the unexpected, so that one would not meet with financial tragedies like nightmares come true.

Divorce and Financial Resolutions – Working Together

Financial blogger

The holy grail of divorce proceedings, for all those involved, is to reach an amicable agreement between the divorcing parties on all issues regarding finances (and custody) as swiftly as possible, instead of relying on a judge to make a court ruling which may not best suit one or both of the parties. The more conflict there is, the more expensive the process is, the more damage is done to the relationship and, most importantly, the more damage is done to the children involved and their own relationships.

Mediation

One process which can minimise conflict and cost is mediation. At the heart of this process is the idea that both sides will meet face to face with a neutral mediator (who may or may not be a trained lawyer) to discuss and resolve particular sticking points. The mediator cannot advise the divorcing couple, only facilitate their discussions. This may involve suggesting that parties should seek further advice in financial or legal matters if they deem it necessary however. Both parties can still consult individual lawyers outside of the process but their lawyers are not allowed to take part in the meetings themselves. At the end of discussions, the mediator will write up and prepare the agreed terms so that each legal team can sign them off – entering into a legally binding agreement in doing so.
Mediation can prove significantly cheaper than following the court route with costs estimated at 500 per person compared to costs in the region of 5k to 20k for court hearings. Furthermore, the wider good that face to face discussions do to the relationship between the parties and therefore the handling of their children can be immeasurable.

Collaboration

A relatively new technique which is gaining in popularity is that of collaboration. In a collaborative divorce procedure, each party appoints a specialist collaboration lawyer and the individuals and their lawyers all meet face to face (as opposed to traditional correspondence between lawyers) to discuss and hopefully resolve disputes without the need to go to court. Collaborative lawyers are trained to work together towards a solution rather than solely representing their own clients and again the process can bring in other professional advisors to facilitate the meetings in relation to financial matters or child welfare.

If the collaboration process does not yield a resolution, the case will still then need to be heard in court, however, each party must enlist new legal representation and the discussions held in the collaborative process cannot be referred to in the court hearing without the consent of both sides. This exercise in drawing a line and making a clear distinction between the collaboration process and the courts ensures that the discussions in the former can be as open as possible.

Again collaboration should prove cheaper than the court route as it is often limited to around 3 to 6 meetings with court hearings only occurring if the process fails. Successful collaboration can therefore negate the expense of extended litigation and correspondence by post etc.

Funding Issues

As mentioned above, following a collaboration or mediation route can prove significantly cheaper than taking financial disputes to the courts. This is becoming particularly salient as the government looks to reducing the funds available to prospective divorcees through legal aid and because of the fact that fewer law firms are now prepared to take on legal aid cases due to their added bureaucracy (legal aid applications etc). The rationale behind government cuts to legal aid are that more couples should be encouraged to pursue mediation and this is being backed by a significant increase in mediation funding.

For those who do find themselves in court and cant access legal aid there are ways of accessing funds which involve the the lending of money, via a solicitor, from a bank or a litigation investor. In addition, employing a solicitor on a fixed fee rather than an hourly rate can not only control but significantly reduce costs. However, the most effective way of ensuring that the funds needed for the future of the individual and their children are left intact is to make use of either mediation or collaboration.