Will Corning's Focus on Cover Materials, Glass Substrate Stoke Growth?

Corning Incorporated GLW is focusing on expanding its portfolio of durable cover materials to gain a competitive advantage against rivals. The Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic boasts an advanced protective layer for the safety of mobile devices. This innovative transparent material significantly improves drop performance on rough surfaces compared to competitive aluminosilicate glasses, surviving 10 repeated drops from one meter on surfaces replicating asphalt in lab testing. The Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic has added a new dimension to the toughness quotient of mobile devices, with the existing aluminosilicate glass coverings failing in similar lab tests. 

Over the years, Corning has been focusing on developing state-of-the-art cover materials, which are deployed on more than 8 billion devices. The company has enhanced the durability and crack deflection capabilities of the display cover with the launch of Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2, which features crystals intricately embedded within its glass matrix. The combination of the glass and crystal components is designed in such a way that it provides improved toughness while retaining high optical transparency. In addition, Corning’s ion exchange process fortifies the glass ceramic material and improves the retained strength of the display cover to augment the damage-resistance qualities. These innovative features have made the Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 an ideal solution for protective cover materials for the front and back of electronic displays such as smartphones, cameras, smartwatches and wearables. 

Corning is also a leading innovator in the glass substrate industry. The company has been developing environment-friendly formulations that impart superior picture quality. Corning’s generation 10 substrates use the proprietary EAGLE XG formulation, which serves both these purposes. Corning was the first glass substrate developer with generation 10 capability. A higher generation substrate is a larger-sized substrate, which enables panel makers to reduce manufacturing costs since more panels can be built from each substrate. Corning’s capability positions it to better serve the secular increase in demand for LCD panels. The company’s fusion technology reduces glass thickness, enabling panel manufacturers to do away with thinning costs that are usually necessary for making slimmer, lighter and more power-efficient consumer devices.

Some Tech Firms Focusing on Glass Substrate

Universal Display Corporation OLED is a dominant provider of OLED technology. The technology is likely to eventually replace LED and LCD technologies due to energy efficiency, higher contrast ratio, better viewing angle, lower video response time and smaller form factor. Unlike LEDs, OLEDs can be viewed directly and don’t need diffusers. It is also expected to be cost-effective when manufactured in high volumes, making it suitable for commercial application in the growing solid-state lighting market. Its innovative prowess has generated a comprehensive portfolio of 6,000 patents worldwide. 

Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT is in a very good position to take advantage of the transition from LCD to OLED technology. Rapid growth in large-format TVs has opened up opportunities to invest in new Gen 10.5 capacity, and Applied Materials is currently tracking seven Gen 10.5 projects. Demand for bigger, higher resolution and low-power screens for mobiles will primarily drive the Display segment. Further, rising demand for mobile OLEDs and large screen televisions is creating significant growth opportunities for the company.

GLW’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Corning shares have gained 72.5% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 83.2%.

Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company's shares currently trade at 28.16 forward earnings, lower than 33.06 for the industry. 

Earnings estimates for 2025 have increased 4.7% to $2.46 per share over the past 60 days, while the same for 2026 have moved up 5.1% to $2.86.

Corning currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research