Corning Q3 Revs, EPS Top Ests; Stock Heading Higher

Corning (GLW) this morning posted better-than-expected Q3 financial results.

For the quarter, the LCD glass producer reported revenue of $1.5 billion and profits before special items of 42 cents a share, ahead of the Street at $1.42 billion and 39 cents.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the company expects its wholly owned display business to be flat to down slightly sequentially; at the Samsung Corning joint venture, they expect glass volume to be “consistent” quarter to quarter.

The company said it expects “normal seasonal declines” of 15% in its telecom segment and and 10%-15% in its environmental businesses, with equity earnings at Dow Corning higher sequentially. The specialty materials segment is expected to flat to down 5%, with life sciences up 25% due to an acquisition.

Corning noted that before the recent loss of glass production at its Taichung facility, Corning had expected a sequential increase of 5% in glass volume for the fourth quarter.

For 2010, Corning said worldwide LCD TV sales could reach 156 million units, up 20% from 2009. Notebook PC sales are also forecast to be up 20%, the company said, while desktop monitors are expected to grow 4%. The company said that should result at worldwide glass demand of at least 2.7 billion square feet, up about 15%. But the company also said Q1 glass demand is likely to be sequentially lower, with a “snap back” in the second quarter.

In early trading, GLW is up 45 cents, or 2.8%, at $16.10.