Shares of high-tech glass maker Corning fell 2.5% on Tuesday after rising more than 80% this year. Investors booked profits following the strong financial results. We were not among them. In fact, we bought the pullback on Tuesday morning, right after the post-earnings weakness manifested. Corning makes specialty glass for data center cables and screens for all types of digital devices. The company has raised its price target for the stock from $93 to $95 per share and reiterated its rating of 1, which corresponds to a “buy.” Below are Corning’s key numbers for the third quarter ended September 30th. Core revenue, which adjusts for factors such as currency fluctuations and scheduled events, rose 14% from a year earlier to $4.27 billion in the third quarter, beating expectations of $4.23 billion, according to market data service LSEG. Core earnings per share rose 24% to 67 cents in the three months ended Sept. 30, slightly beating EPS estimates of 66 cents, according to LSEG data. GLW YTD Mountain Corning YTD Bottom Line We had a strong quarter. There were also signs that there are many opportunities for future growth. Both made the stock price drop feel like an opportunity to add to their latest positions. We love our data center business and our growing partnership with Apple on iPhone and Apple Watch Glass. Last month, Jim Cramer became extremely bullish on Corning after visiting a factory in Kentucky where glass for Apple is made. Two years into Corning’s Springboard turnaround plan, Corning has seen a 31% increase in sales. Operating margin increased 330 basis points to 19.6% and earnings per share increased 72%. Return on invested capital also increased by 460 basis points during this period. That’s impressive. In a post-earnings conference call, CEO Wendell Weeks said Corning’s annual revenue increased by $4 billion from the introduction of Springboard through the end of the third quarter. The team expects annual revenue to increase by an additional $300 million in the current fourth quarter. Even better, management expects to hit its 20% operating margin target in the fourth quarter, a full year ahead of schedule. Corning has already met its original “firm” goal of $4 billion for 2026, and raised its internal revenue growth target to $6 billion by the end of 2026, up from the $5 billion it reiterated on its second-quarter earnings call. Reasons to Own Corning makes many different types of specialty glass, including fiber optic cables. Corning fiber optic solutions provide a more efficient alternative to copper wiring in data centers. Corning’s data center share is expected to increase over time as companies look to scale up and scale out, building larger and more complex data centers over time. The company is also a major supplier to Apple, making the glass used in the iPhone, Watch, and other Apple devices. Finally, solar power is also proving to be a growth opportunity, as Corning is uniquely positioned to enter this space thanks to its existing expertise in semiconductor polysilicon manufacturing. Recent Purchases: October 28, 2025 Start Date: October 21, 2025 During the conference call, Weeks asserted that the company is “expected to continue to grow and take further leaps forward,” highlighting a $2.5 billion deal with Apple to produce 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch glass in the United States for the first time at the company’s manufacturing facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. “This creates significant long-term momentum for us in the mobile consumer electronics space,” the CEO added. Corning is also benefiting from the introduction of generative artificial intelligence, helping drive growth in the company’s optical communications division as enterprise customers look to scale out and scale up new infrastructure such as data centers. Management sees an AI opportunity within the data center, with revenue reaching a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% between 2023 and 2027. While that growth rate was reiterated, enterprise sales grew much faster in the third quarter, increasing 58% year-over-year. Commentary Optical Communications sales in the third quarter increased 33% year over year, but were slightly below expectations. But we’re not worried because the enterprise side of the business, which is responsible for selling data centers, has grown much faster. Weak discussed the “scale-out” opportunity during the conference call. “This basically means that hyperscale customers are scaling out GPU clusters using connected AI nodes in server racks, or larger neural networks. This creates more volume for Corning because each AI node is connected by fiber to other nodes in the cluster,” he said. Foreshadowing possible future announcements, Weeks added, referring to U.S. hyperscale customers looking to build U.S. data centers in U.S. supply chains, “We’re working to formalize contracts with our customers, so stay tuned.” Weeks also highlighted “scale-up” opportunities, as data center operators look to develop increasingly sophisticated AI nodes. Without getting too technical, Weeks said, “A single Blackwell-like node has more than 70 GPUs and more than 1,200 links using more than two miles of copper wire. As that node scales up, those two miles will eventually be replaced with fiber connections, and those miles will increase over time as more GPUs are included in the AI node.” Collectively, Corning’s growth opportunities in data centers come not only from building more data centers, but also from the need to eventually begin replacing copper connections with fiber connections, of which Corning is a leader in development. “If the technology is successful, the opportunity to scale up could be two to three times larger than the existing enterprise business,” Weeks said. On the data center interconnect side of Optical Communications’ carrier side, Weeks said the company has seen a “tremendous response” to the introduction of its high-density GenAI fiber and cable system, which “allows customers to install two to four times the amount of fiber into their existing conduits,” and expects this business to grow rapidly and reach a $1 billion opportunity for the company by the end of 2020. Microsoft is already working with Corning to improve the performance and reliability of its Azure cloud and AI services. Sales at the display division, which primarily makes glass for LCD TVs, laptops and flat-panel desktop monitors, fell 7.5% year over year but rose 5% quarter over quarter, beating expectations. Management said in a release that it expects the division’s net income to be at the high end of its guidance range of $900 million to $950 million, with full-year margins of at least 25%. Specialty Materials segment sales increased 13% compared to the same period last year. “This announcement with Apple creates greater long-term growth momentum for mobile consumer electronics through Springboard and beyond,” Chief Financial Officer Edward Schlesinger said on the conference call. Automotive sales increased 6% year over year, “primarily driven by strength in the light car market in China, partially offset by lower heavy duty diesel sales in North America.” The automotive group produces filter materials that reduce gasoline emissions. Although Life Sciences segment sales were relatively consistent with the prior year period, management was able to expand margins and increase segment net income by 7% year over year. In the release, the team said it has identified “new opportunities for innovation in advanced 3D cell culture and cell therapy.” This segment manufactures products for laboratories. Sales in the Hemlock and Emerging Growth business increased approximately 46% in the quarter. Hemlock Semiconductor’s main business is manufacturing silicon wafers, the basis of computer chips, and key materials needed to produce solar panels and cells. Solar power is an area management has been working on growing for some time. During the conference call, Weeks said, “First, solar power is fundamentally about the efficient use of photons and low-cost materials conversion platforms, both of which are important opportunities for innovation that are in our wheelhouse. Second, we are already a world leader in semiconductor polysilicon, which is just a purer form of the basic material used in solar power.” Corning has already sold out its polysilicon and wafer production capacity in 2025, and has already committed to more than 80% of its production capacity for the next five years. Solar sales in the first quarter of this year were approximately $200 million, and management expects the revenue run-rate business to grow to $2.5 billion by the end of 2028. Guidance Corning management expects sales of $4.35 billion for the current quarter, adding $300 million to the company’s annual sales run rate. This beats LSEG’s consensus estimate of $4.26 billion. Core earnings are expected to be in the range of 68 cents to 72 cents per share, beating the LSEG consensus estimate of 67 cents. (Jim Cramer’s charitable trust is long GLW, AAPL. See here for a complete list of stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
