Corning Q2: Earnings Beat, But Shares Down on Light Outlook

Fiber-optic glass maker Corning (GLW) Monday morning announced revenue for its Q2 fell 18% from the prior year, but rose 41% from Q1, to $1.395 billion, slightly beating the average estimate of $1.36 billion, while profit was neatly ahead of estimates, at 39 cents per share versus 32 cents. However, the company’s outlook for the current quarter and the rest of the year suggests that a big inventory rebuild in LCD TV glass in the first half of the year will moderate. That sent the shares down.

After a 66% rise in Corning’s total LCD glass volume, quarter over quarter, the company sees total glass volume “flat to slightly up” in Q3. The company raised its forecast for the total industry output this year, to 2.3 billion square feet, or 15% growth from 2008, compared to an original 2 billion sq. ft. estimate. The company said retail demand for LCD glass was increasing at double digits while supply remained down from last year in the double digits. Nevertheless, “the pace of economic recovery remains uncertain,” remarked management, “and we are being cautious about the amount of capacity we are restarting for the fourth quarter and for early 2010.”

Corning Monday morning is down 67 cents, or 4%, at $16.32.

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