Corning Earnings Jump 22% Despite Falling Glass Prices

Corning's (GLW) third-quarter profit rose 22% from a year earlier, as higher sales of the company's automotive and diesel-emission products more than offset the falling glass prices for flat-panel TVs.

Net income was $785 million, or 50 cents a share, up from $643 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier, as revenue increased 8.3% to $1.6 billion. Analysts expected Corning to earn 52 cents a share on $1.61 billion in revenue, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.

Automotive and diesel-emission control product demand drove a 25% year-over-year revenue increase in Corning's environmental technologies division, while sales of specialty materials, which include glass used for protective covering of laptop computers and mobile phones, surged 77% from a year earlier.

Such sales gains more than offset the effect of falling liquid crystal display (LCD) glass prices, which caused revenue from Corning's display technologies division to drop 5% from a year earlier. LCD glass prices are likely to keep falling as TV manufacturers work through inventory levels that'd been driven up earlier in the year, Corning CFO James Flaws warned in a statement Monday.

Corning shares rose 1.2% to close at $18.50 on Monday.