DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Corning Inc.'s (GLW) second-quarter profit jumped 49%, beating
analysts' estimates as sales and margins rose.
But shares were down 1.1% at $17.80 in recent premarket trading
as the company expects third-quarter sales to be little changed
from the second quarter.
The maker of glass used in liquid-crystal-display screens on
TVs, computers and other electronics has enjoyed soaring profit as
demand has risen this year. Its scratch-resistant "Gorilla glass,"
used in smartphone and tablet computer screens, has been touted by
the company and analysts as its next potential hit. It plans to
invest about $800 million building a production facility in
Beijing.
Corning posted a profit of $913 million, or 58 cents a share, up
from $611 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales
jumped 23% to $1.71 billion.
Analysts were expecting profit of 52 cents on $1.65 billion in
revenue, according a poll by Thomson Reuters.
Gross margin jumped to 48.3% from 41.2%.
Display technologies, by far Corning's largest unit by revenue,
saw sales jump 24%. The company makes thousands of products, but
the vast majority of earnings come from its LCD glass business. The
fiber optics-focused telecommunications segment notched a 0.9%
sales increase as divestitures weight on results. The specialty
materials segment's revenue jumped 77% amid strong Gorilla glass
sales.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240,
matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com