Corning Upbeat on LCD TV Market

Shares of Corning (GLW Quote) got a boost after the company's CEO said its model for the LCD TV market may be too conservative.

CEO Wendell Weeks, speaking at the company's annual meeting Thursday, observed that the LCD TV market appears to have grown faster than Corning predicted. He pointed out several trends that indicate an increase in demand could come, including a swifter-than-expected replacement of traditional cathode-ray technology with LCDs and a pickup in the number of TVs per household.

He also said management remains committed to protecting Corning's financial health, improving profitability and investing in the future. "Our goal as a leadership team is not peak performance during our brief time at the helm of this great company, but rather, sustainable performance," he said.

Corning's board also declared a quarterly dividend on the company's common stock of 5 cents a share, which will be payable June 30 to shareholders of record June 2.

Corning was lately up 33 cents, or 1.3%, to $25.47. The stock's next catalyst should come on Tuesday, when Corning will post first-quarter results.

Among related stocks, Sony (SNE Quote) rose 0.6%, Cisco (CSCO Quote) gained 1.8% and Syntax-Brillian (BRLC Quote) was up 3.1%. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU Quote), meanwhile, slipped 0.6%.