GLW Rides on Strength in Solar Market: A Sign of More Upside?

Corning Incorporated GLW is benefiting from solid market traction in its U.S.-made solar product portfolio. This is driving growth in the company’s Hemlock and Emerging Growth Businesses. The segment’s revenue increased 46% year over year to $364 million.

Corning boasts a comprehensive product suite consisting of advanced optical connectivity products and cover materials for consumer electronics devices. Amid intensifying competition in these segments and growing interest in solar products, Corning has reorganized the operating structure to align executive management and business teams around five Market-Access Platforms (MAPs): Mobile Consumer Electronics, Optical Communications, Automotive, Life Sciences and Display. Along with these, the company has introduced a new Solar Market Access Platform, which is focused on developing the domestic solar supply chain in the United States. 

The company is already the leading producer of semiconductor polysilicon, a material used in the solar industry for wafer manufacturing. Corning has built the largest solar ingot and wafer facility in Michigan, U.S. The company already has its polysilicon semiconductor production hub in the region. The colocation has created a vertically integrated manufacturing framework that will strengthen Corning’s position in the U.S. solar supply chain.

Per a report from Mordor Intelligence, the U.S. Solar energy market is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate of 12.34% between 2025 and 2030. The entry to the Solar industry for Corning is of high return and low risk. From its Solar Market Access Platform, the company is expected to generate $2.5 billion in revenues from this new MAP by 2028, with a positive impact on profit and cash flow.

Other Companies Expanding Into Solar Market

Ontario, Canada-based Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and a provider of solar energy and battery energy storage solutions. Canadian Solar is witnessing increased sales of its solar modules and energy storage systems.  Increasing renewable energy adoption, as well as declining cost of solar installation, along with enhanced usage of battery storage in alignment with expanding clean energy projects, is driving this demand. To meet the growing solar demand in the aforementioned markets, Canadian Solar has been effectively enhancing its manufacturing capacity.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. JKS is a solar product manufacturer with operations based in China. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain from recovered silicon materials to solar modules. Its comprehensive product suite, consisting of silicon wafers, solar cells and solar modules, is rapidly gaining market traction. A global network spanning across Europe, North America and Asia allows JinkoSolar to swiftly expand into emerging markets.

Corning's Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

GLW’s shares have gained 87.5% compared to the communications components industry’s growth of 111%.

From a valuation standpoint, the company’s shares currently trade at 29.97X 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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