Corning Earnings Beat Estimates. Why It's Not Enough as the Stock Sinks. -- Barrons.com

By Kit Norton

Shares of Corning fell Tuesday after the optical networking company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. Guidance, however, was mostly in-line with Wall Street estimates, disappointing investors.

The company posted adjusted earnings of 78 cents a share, up from 60 cents a year ago and above Wall Street expectations of 76 cents. Sales grew 17% to $4.74 billion, beating the analyst consensus call for $4.63 billion.

For the current quarter, the optical networking and glass maker forecasts adjusted earnings of 85 cents to 89 cents a share on core sales of $4.9 billion t0 $5 billion. Wall Street expects third-quarter earnings of 85 cents a share with sales totaling $4.99 billion, according to FactSet.

CEO Wendell Weeks said in a press release that Corning is "entering a new phase of accelerating growth" and that the company expects to deliver a sales compounded annual growth rate of 19% from the fourth quarter through the fourth quarter 2030.

Wall Street, however, was expecting more from the guidance and Corning stock fell 17% to $118.43 in premarket trading on Tuesday. If the move holds it would be the stock's largest daily percentage decline since Oct. 8, 2002, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Other stocks in the sector followed Corning lower. Ciena declined 5.7%, Coherent was down 5.7%, and Lumentum dropped 6%.

Wall Street was taking a cautious view heading into the earnings report as Corning and other optical networking names have booked large gains over the past 12 months.

Corning, which makes glass and fiber optical networking, has become a major part of the artificial-intelligence trade. Shares are up 64% this year and have advanced about 160% over the past 12 months as of Monday's closing bell.

Write to Kit Norton at kit.norton@barrons.com

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July 28, 2026 07:47 ET (11:47 GMT)