Picture Looks Brighter for Corning

A price freeze is heating up Corning's (GLW Quote) stock.

Seeking to sidestep another margin-crushing inventory pileup this year, Corning vowed in January to hold price cuts on its liquid crystal display glass to about 2%. The company had cut prices as much as 9% last year as competition picked up amid an industrywide push to churn out big-screen TVs.

Now, halfway through the year, it looks like Corning may have succeeded in holding the line. That's good news for investors who are betting that strong growth in sales of big TVs and computer screens will bolster shares of Corning and others in the LCD sector.

"From pricing standpoint, this year is much healthier than last year," says DisplaySearch analyst Paul Gagnon, referring to the flat TV makers. They have been "balancing the supply and demand better."

Perhaps reflecting its dominance as a big supplier of liquid crystal display glass to the world's leading computer monitor manufacturers and TV makers, Corning's gamble has paid off so far. The big glassmaker bet that its customers wouldn't flee to more cooperative suppliers and would instead use more discipline with their own costs, production and pricing.

After a strong first quarter, LCD TV sales softened, says Gagnon. This slightly lower-volume pattern has so far stuck to its predicted path and there are no obvious detour signs ahead, he says.