Corning 4Q profit triples to $740 million on high demand for LCD-TV glass; beats forecast

Corning 4Q profit triples on TV glass demand

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Corning Inc. says its profit almost tripled in the fourth quarter on surging sales of glass for flat-screen televisions.

The world’s largest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass said Tuesday it earned $740 million, or 47 cents a share, in the October-December period. That’s up from $249 million, or 16 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding unusual items, its profit was 44 cents a share, beating Wall Street’s forecast of 42 cents a share.

Corning says sales jumped 41 percent to $1.53 billion. That also beat analysts’ forecasts of $1.45 billion.

Sales in Corning’s display technologies segment leaped 86 percent to $717 million.