Corning Rides on Strength in Consumer Electronics: Will it Persist?

Corning Incorporated GLW is benefiting from healthy traction in the Specialty Materials backed by solid demand in the consumer electronics market. During the third quarter, the company generated $621 million in revenues, up 13% year over year. Net income was $113 million, up 57% year over year. Net sales were up due to the continuous adoption of the company’s premium glass innovation in the customer’s flagship smartphone. 

Major smartphone manufacturers, including Samsung, are deploying Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 in the next-gen Galaxy S25 Edge devices. Xiaomi and OnePlus have also deployed Corning’s advanced Gorilla Glass in their premium smartphones.

The company is also witnessing solid demand in the broader consumer electronics market. Apple is set to invest $2.5 billion to develop all of iPhone and Apple Watch’s cover glass in Corning’s Kentucky manufacturing facilities. The strategy is part of Apple’s $600 billion multi-year investment commitment in the United States. Corning’s regional manufacturing capabilities have become a major driver of this initiative. The expanded collaboration with Apple has made consumer electronics a major pillar of the company’s springboard plan that focuses on significantly increasing net sales over the next few years.
 
Apart from consumer electronics, Corning’s Specialty Materials segment serves a broad range of markets including semiconductor, aerospace, defense, industrial, commercial and telecommunications. Such a broad presence helps the company improve its resiliency during macroeconomic headwinds. Per our estimate, in 2025 it is expected to generate $2.16 billion in revenues, indicating growth of 7.3% year over year.

Other Tech Players in Consumer Electronics

Universal Display Corporation OLED, a dominant provider of OLED technology, is also gaining from growing OLED usage in IT applications encompassing tablets, laptops, monitors, automotive and various other consumer electronics applications, such as smartphones and TVs. The strong patent portfolio has helped Universal Display acquire a number of large customers, generating significant licensing revenues. Universal Display’s broad customer base includes organizations like Samsung, LG Display, BOE Technology, Visionox and Tianma. Despite growing OLED proliferation in multiple end markets, the company’s revenue declined to $139.6 million from $161.6 million a year ago.

InterDigital, Inc. IDCC, with its comprehensive portfolio of more than 33,000 granted patents and applications, is also gaining from solid momentum in consumer electronics. The company has leading companies such as Huawei, Samsung, LG, Amazon, Zebra Technologies, Panasonic, Vivo and Apple under its licensing agreement. Moreover, with a strong focus on innovation, IDCC is focused on pursuing agreements with unlicensed customers. Net sales in the quarter rose to $164.7 million from $128.7 million in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year growth was induced by a multi-year license agreement with Samsung.

Corning's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Corning’s shares have gained 89.2% compared to the communications components industry’s growth of 139.4%.

From a valuation standpoint, the company’s shares currently trade at 30.41 forward 12-month earnings, lower than the industry.

Earnings estimates for Corning for 2025 and 2026 have increased over the past 60 days.

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

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

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