Corning’s Core Sales Rise 19% to $5.081 Billion in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Corning reported third-quarter results on October 27, beating its earlier guidance, as core sales, which are not in accordance with GAAP, rose to $5.081 billion, up 19% year over year and 7% from the previous quarter. Sales under GAAP were about $4.855 billion, up 18% year over year and 8% quarter over quarter. The company also posted GAAP net income of $680 million, up 58% from $430 million in the third quarter of 2025. Core net income, which is not in accordance with GAAP, was $795 million, up 36% year over year. The stock closed at $126.3 on October 27, after $127.74 in the previous session, while market data showed a daily decline of 1.13%.
Results also beat analysts’ estimates: core earnings per share were $0.91, against an estimate of $0.88, and core sales came in at $5.08 billion, compared with a forecast of $5.03 billion. Before reporting results, management had projected core sales growth of about 16% to a range of $4.9–5.0 billion, and core earnings per share of $0.85–0.89. GAAP diluted earnings per share were about $0.78, up 56% year over year, while core earnings per share rose 36% to $0.91. Core margins widened as the business grew: gross margin was 40.5%, up 150 basis points year over year, and operating margin was 22.7%, expanding 310 basis points. On a GAAP basis, gross margin was 37.3% and operating margin was 18.8%.
Optical Communications emerged as the strongest driver of results, with sales rising 44% year over year to $2.379 billion and net income climbing 80% to $532 million. In enterprise networks, sales increased 84%, while sales of generative AI products grew more than 100% year over year. The chief executive said sales of those products doubled during the quarter, adding that they grew faster than GPU unit volumes. The company linked demand growth to its investments in innovation and customer agreements that support expansion. It said it signed four multibillion-dollar, long-term agreements during the quarter, including agreements with Verizon and AT&T. The agreements give the company long-term supply commitments as demand for optical infrastructure accelerates.
Growth extended to the solar business, where sales rose 37% year over year to $436 million, but production increased more slowly than expected. The segment ended with a net loss of $7 million, compared with a profit of $30 million in the third quarter of 2025. By contrast, sales in the Glass Innovations segment fell 3% year over year to $1.506 billion, and net income declined 10% to $328 million. The company said TV, mobile phone and laptop markets were affected by memory prices. The results show a divergence between growth in optical communications and AI on one hand, and operational challenges and demand pressures in some other businesses on the other. Capital spending during the quarter also exceeded half a billion dollars, while adjusted free cash flow was $661 million.
Management expects core sales to grow about 19% year over year in the fourth quarter, to a range of $5.2–5.3 billion, and core earnings per share to rise about 36% to $0.96–1.00. The company had also announced that it expected a 19% compound annual growth rate in sales from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the fourth quarter of 2030. It said it will participate in the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference in Scottsdale on December 1. The next quarter’s outlook places continued growth in communications and AI-related products on the results path, alongside monitoring the pace of solar production. Margin expansion and long-term customer agreements remain among the growth-plan elements the company presented with its results.