Corning beats by $0.02, beats on revs (34.23)
Reports Q4 (Dec) core earnings of $0.49 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.02 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.47; core (non-GAAP) revenues rose 7.4% year/year to $2.74 bln vs the $2.65 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
"We exited the year running at full capacity in several of our businesses and with committed customer demand that supports our current capacity-expansion initiatives. We expect to see the benefits of these initiatives in the second half of 2018 and beyond as production ramps...2018 will be another year of strong growth and investment, consistent with our Strategy & Capital Allocation Framework. We feel great about our progress and prospects."
For 2018, co expects LCD glass market growth to be in the mid- single digit percentages, similar to 2017, as screen size growth continues. Co expects its volume to grow faster than the market as Corning supports the ramp-up of the world's first Gen 10.5 fab. The improvements in LCD glass pricing are expected to continue in 2018, with full-year price declines expected to reach the mid-single digit percentages