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 angela.chen@dowjones.com
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