Smartphone launches boost Gorilla glass maker Corning

By Abhirup Roy

(Reuters) - Corning Inc, the supplier of Gorilla glass to Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics, reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings, helped by launches of new smartphone models.

Shares of the company, which also supplies LCD panels to consumer electronics companies such as Sony Corp, LG and Lenovo Group, rose 1.6 percent in early trading.

Smartphones such as Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and Samsung's Galaxy Alpha were launched in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Corning said it would launch a new version of Gorilla glass on Nov. 20.

The company, however, said fourth-quarter core sales in its specialty materials business, which makes Gorilla glass, were expected to decline by low- to mid-teen digits percent from the third quarter due to the absence of any major new launches.

"What happens after a new launch is at some point, they take enough glass to continue to build out their products and that's why we think that in the fourth quarter, we'll see sales down," Senior Vice President Tony Tripeny told Reuters.

Its LCD panel volumes in the current quarter are expected to be flat or fall slightly from the previous quarter as most of the holiday season orders had been shipped in the third quarter, Tripeny said.

Corning had been hurt by falling LCD glass prices in the past few quarters, but the company said the pace of the price decline was moderating.

The company's core net sales rose to $2.65 billion in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $2.1 billion, a year earlier.

Net income rose to $1.01 billion, or 72 cents per share, from $408 million, or 28 cents per share.

The company reported core earnings of 40 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 37 cents per share and revenue of $2.63 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Corning shares were up 1 percent at $19.04 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Editing by Kirti Pandey)