Corning Inc., buoyed by a fibre-optic networking boom, said second-quarter operating earnings will beat Wall Street estimates by 15% and full-year earnings growth will be stronger than expected.
The …
Corning Inc., buoyed by a fibre-optic networking boom, said second-quarter operating earnings will beat Wall Street estimates by 15% and full-year earnings growth will be stronger than expected. The Corning, New York, manufacturer is logging record demand for its fibre-optic cables, glass products and networking components, and analysts predict that the growth will continue for the foreseeable future. That news pushed its stock higher, along with the shares of other companies in the fibre-optic business. Corning“s shares rose US$ 18, or 8.5%, to US$ 230 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. “The future certainly looks good,” said an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. “At some point there will be a slowdown in the fibre-optic business, but now we are in the very early stages of the current optical-fibre cycle.” Corning also raised its projections for full-year pro forma earnings per-share growth to 45% from 35%. Pro forma earnings exclude one-time acquisition costs, discontinued operations and other non-recurring costs. Corning also said it had completed the acquisition of IntelliSense Corp. of Wilmington, Massachusetts, which develops optical switching and cross-connect products.