Corning Sales Grow on Higher LCD Glass Demand

By Angela Chen 

Corning Inc. said Tuesday that continued demand for its specialty materials, along with revenue growth from its acquisition of a Korean LCD-glass manufacturer, drove stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter.

In the most recently ended quarter, Corning had a 69% sales increase in its key display technologies segment, helped primarily by last year's acquisition of Precision Materials, which manufactures LCD glass in Korea. Other positive factors were declining glass prices, as well as continued demand for larger LCD television sizes. Corning relies on sales of LCD-TV glass for the bulk of its profit.

Shares of Corning rose more than 2% in premarket trading.

Core sales for the company's specialty-materials segment, which includes the Gorilla Glass material used in smartphones and tablets, grew 12% to $319 million. Consumer interest in strong smartphone screens continues to be strong, the company said.

Overall, Corning reported a profit of $988 million, or 70 cents a share, compared with $421 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 23% to $2.4 billion.

Excluding special items, core earnings per share increased to 45 cents from 29 cents. Core sales jumped 30% to $2.6 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of 38 cents a share on revenue of $2.5 billion.

For the current quarter, the company expects LCD glass volume to be flat to down on a quarterly basis, because of particularly strong fourth-quarter results. Sales in the specialty materials segment are expected to increase by more than 10% in the first quarter, because of new products such as Gorilla Glass 4, which the company introduced in the fourth quarter amid demand for more break-resistant screen glass.

Shares of Corning have been up about 31% in the past 12 months through Monday's close.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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