Corning Q2 Profit Surges Despite Lower Sales - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Specialty glass maker Corning Inc (GLW) reported that net earnings for the second quarter grew to $496 million or $0.36 per share from $169 million or $0.11 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding items, core earnings for the quarter were $0.38 per share, compared to $0.34 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.37 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter declined 6 percent to $2.34 billion from $2.48 billion in the same quarter last year. Core net sales were $2.517 billion, compared to $2.512 billion last year. Wall Street expected revenues of $2.54 billion.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Corning forecasts LCD glass volume to increase by a low single-digit percentage sequentially.

Corning increased its expectation for optical communications sales for the year, as demand for the company's FTTH and data center solutions remains high. Third-quarter and full-year sales are expected to be up in the mid-teen percentage range versus last year.

The company projects Gorilla Glass volume for the third quarter to be up by a high single-digit percent sequentially, and consistent with last year's exceptionally strong third-quarter performance.

Sales in the Environmental Technologies and Life Sciences segments are expected to be down slightly in the third quarter from the prior year, driven by the impact of changes in the euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate.