Corning Posts Upbeat Q1 Results, Provides Optimistic Q2 Guidance

Corning Inc’s GLW first-quarter FY21 core sales rose 29% to $3.3 billion, beating the analyst estimate of $3.13 billion.
Environmental Technologies grew sales and net income by 38% and 111% from improving markets and more Corning content. Specialty Materials sales rose 28% from strong demand for premium cover materials, IT market, and semiconductor-related optical glasses.
Optical Communications sales rose 18% from data center building, network capacity expansion, and fiber-to-the-home project-driven growth in enterprise and carrier networks. Display Technologies grew sales rose 15%.
Life Sciences sales rose 16% from strong regional demand, ongoing recovery in academic and pharmaceutical research labs, and continued strong demand for bioproduction products and diagnostic-related consumables.
The profitability was impacted by $50 million from higher freight, logistic costs, and global supply chain disruptions.
Core net income rose 127% to $402 million. Core EPS increased 125% to $0.45, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.43.
The company generated $372 million in free cash flow.
Corning forecasts second-quarter core sales between $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion, ahead of the analyst estimate of $3.24 billion. Core EPS estimates lie in the range of $0.49 to $0.53, higher than the consensus estimate of $0.48.
Price action: GLW shares traded lower by 0.20% at $45.98 in the premarket session on the last check Tuesday.