Friday, February 09, 2007

Corning Reiterates 1st-Quarter Guidance, Sees Lower Seasonal Demand for LCD TVs

Corning Inc., a maker of specialty glass, kitchenware and fiber-optic cable, on Friday said first-quarter net income would be hurt by seasonally lower demand of liquid-crystal display TVs, for which Corning makes glass.

The company reaffirmed its first-quarter outlook for earnings between 24 cents and 27 cents per share, excluding one-time items.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect earnings of 26 cents per share.

It sees sales between $1.26 billion and $1.31 billion, while analysts are looking for earnings of $1.29 billion.

The company expects lower demand and lower prices at Samsung Corning Precision Glass Co. Ltd., its 50-percent Korea venture that makes LCD glass substrates.

Corning expects its total first-quarter LCD glass volume to decline sequentially between 10 percent and 15 percent from the fourth quarter, while first-quarter LCD glass pricing is expected to fall 1 percent to 2 percent. at its wholly owned business, and more at Samsung Corning Precision Glass Co. Ltd.

For the year the company wants free cash flow in excess of $400 million in 2007.

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