CORNING, N.Y. (AP) — Corning Inc. said Tuesday that its second-quarter net income rose 35 percent as it benefited from cost-cutting in its telecom unit and revenue gains from its “Gorilla Glass” smartphone screens.
Corning earned $638 million, or 43 cents per share, during the quarter that ended June 30. That was up from $474 million, or 31 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Not counting one-time items and fluctuations in the Japanese yen, Corning said it would have earned $469 million, or 32 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected a profit of 31 cents per share.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $1.98 billion, matching analysts’ estimates.
Net income doubled to $76 million in its telecommunications segment, in part because of the benefits of cost-cutting actions. It also benefited from a rollout of high-speed Internet gear in Australia. Revenue in the segment rose 8 percent to $601 million.
Revenue in its largest business, display technologies, which makes glass for LCD screens, declined 2 percent to $631 million, and net income fell 9 percent to $337 million as prices continued to drop. Corning said selling prices fell less than they had in its most recent quarter.
Net income jumped 71 percent to $58 million in its specialty materials segment, which makes Gorilla Glass screens for smartphones and tablet computers. Corning just announced a version of Gorilla Glass for touch-screen notebook computers. It expects sales for the new Gorilla Glass to rise in the third quarter.
Corning said third-quarter volume of LCD glass will be about the same or up slightly compared to the second quarter, driven by demand for 50-inch or larger televisions. It said price declines “are anticipated to be moderate,” similar to the most recent quarter.
Filed Under: Devices
