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Corning Raises 2nd-quarter Glass Guidance

The Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Specialty glassmaker Corning Inc. said Thursday it anticipates stronger-than-expected demand in the second quarter for its flat-screen television glass.

The world's largest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass now expects glass volume to grow by more than 50 percent in the April-June period compared with the first quarter. That's up from its previous forecast of a roughly 40 percent increase.

"The LCD supply chain is in full recovery mode," Chief Executive Wendell Weeks said at a business conference in New York City. "Glass supply and demand is very tight right now, much stronger than we anticipated. This has led to an imbalance ... that will likely last through the end of the third quarter."

Corning's shares fell 41 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $14.16 in afternoon trading.

Panel makers slowed their glass purchase orders at the end of 2008 to try to reduce a buildup in inventories as prices fell. In response, Corning took $165 million in first-quarter restructuring charges to pay for eliminating 3,500 jobs, or 13 percent of its payroll of 27,000.

Its profit in the January-March quarter fell 99 percent on slumping sales. But adjusted earnings topped Wall Street expectations on a mid-quarter rebound in demand for super-thin LCD glass, which is used in televisions, computers and other flat-screen devices.

Analysts say unexpectedly strong consumer demand for LCD televisions is driving Corning's optimism. A month ago, it raised its estimate of glass sales to a range of 2.1 billion to 2.2 billion square feet in 2009 from 2 billion square feet in 2008.

LCD-TV sales in April in the United States rose 9 percent from a year earlier, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc. Corning expects global sales of LCD-TVs will grow 18 percent this year.

The 157-year-old company, based in the city of Corning in rural western New York, also makes optical fiber and cable and auto-pollution filters.

While LCD glass is its biggest business by far, Corning is investing heavily in other promising technologies, including green lasers to equip cell phones with projectors and mercury filters for coal plants.

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On the Net:

www.corning.com