CHICAGO – Corning Inc. (GLW), the world's largest maker of fiber-optic cable, on Monday posted a quarterly net loss, but beat Wall Street forecasts.
Corning also said results in the current quarter could exceed analysts' expectations as the telecom sector appears to be stabilizing.
The Corning, New York-based company posted a second-quarter net loss of $22 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with a net loss in the year-ago quarter of $370 million, or 39 cents a share.
Sales in the quarter fell to $752 million from $827 million last year.
Excluding one-time items totaling $47 million after taxes, Corning had a gain of 2 cents a share, which beat Wall Street forecasts for a loss before one-time items of 1 cent a share on sales of $726 million, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
The one-time items included charges related to the shutdown of Corning Asahi Video Products Co., the planned exit from its photonics business and an adjustment to its portion of the asbestos liability settlement to be paid in company stock. There was also a one-time gain related to debt repurchase.
Corning had previously said it expected results before one-time items ranging from a loss of 2 cents to a profit of 1 cent a share. It also forecast sales in the range of $715 million to $745 million.
The company said it expects third-quarter sales in the range of $740 million to $765 million and earnings before one-time items between 1 cent to 3 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting Corning to post a profit before one-time items of 1 cent a share on sales of $740.5 million, according to Reuters Research.
Before the second-quarter results were announced, Corning's stock closed off 13 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $7.51 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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