Corning Incorporated“s Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, James B. Flaws, was scheduled to discuss the company“s growth opportunities in liquid crystal display (LCD) glass, fiber to the prem…
Corning Incorporated“s Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, James B. Flaws, was scheduled to discuss the company“s growth opportunities in liquid crystal display (LCD) glass, fiber to the premises and diesel substrates during the Deutsche Bank Information Technology Hardware Conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in South Beach, Florida, on 8 March 2004. During the discussion, Flaws was to reaffirm the company“s 2004 1Q revenue guidance in the range of USD 770 million to USD 830 million, with earnings per share in the range of USD 0.04 to USD 0.05, before special items. “We are two months into the quarter and I am pleased to say that we are on track to meet our original guidance for revenues and earnings per share,” according to Flaws. Flaws was also to tell investors that the company is experiencing stronger than expected demand for LCD glass products during the 1Q and it is updating guidance for these products. Corning says that it now expects sequential volume growth of LCD glass to be more than 10% in the 1Q, versus its previous guidance of 5% to 10%. The company still expects LCD pricing in the 1Q to remain stable. Corning“s proprietary and scalable fusion technology enables the company to supply the growing number of customers installing fifth and sixth generation LCD fabrication lines. Corning was the first to introduce a Gen 5 substrate and, in June 2003, became the first commercial supplier of Gen 6 substrates. Further, Corning is developing Gen 7 capability and expects it will reach the market in the 2H of 2004. Flaws was also to say that the company is seeing slightly weaker optical fiber volume in North America and now expects 1Q volume to decline sequentially by 10% to 15%. It had previously said that optical fiber volume would be stable to down 5%. “While we are getting off to a slower start than expected in fiber, we still expect optical fiber volume for the full year to be stable with last year…The good news here is that fiber pricing continues to moderate and is within our original expectations for the quarter.” Corning“s discussion with investors at the Deutsche Bank Information Technology Hardware Conference will be available on Corning“s Web site at www.corning.com/investor_relations by accessing the IR events calendar.