Corning Inc (GLW.US) Q3 revenue beats expectations, marking the fastest growth since the launch of the Springboard plan.

Corning Inc (GLW.US) released its Q3 2026 results before the U.S. market opened on October 27. Core sales for the quarter were US$5.081 billion, up 19% year-over-year, above market expectations of about US$5.02 billion; the company said this was the fastest growth since the launch of its "20-30-40" Springboard growth plan; core earnings per share were US$0.91, up 36% year-over-year, also above expectations of US$0.89. Under GAAP, net sales were US$4.855 billion and diluted earnings per share were US$0.78, up 18% and 56% year-over-year, respectively. Optical communications was the main growth engine this period. Segment sales were US$2.379 billion, up 44% year-over-year, and net profit was US$532 million, up 80%; enterprise network sales grew 84%, and sales of generative AI-related products more than doubled year-over-year, with the company saying growth has outpaced GPU shipment growth. Optical communications now accounts for about 47% of core sales. Performance across the remaining segments was mixed. Glass innovations (formed by merging the former display technologies and specialty materials businesses) sales were US$1.506 billion, down 3% year-over-year; CECEP Solar Energy sales were US$436 million, up 37%, but it recorded a net loss of US$7 million due to slower-than-expected capacity ramp-up; the automotive segment grew 4%; the net loss of life sciences and emerging growth businesses widened to US$28 million. During the quarter, the company signed four new multi-billion-dollar long-term customer agreements, including multi-year agreements with Verizon and AT&T. Profitability improved in tandem. Core gross margin was 40.5%, up 150 basis points year-over-year; core operating margin was 22.7%, up 310 basis points; core return on invested capital (ROIC) was 16.7%, up 330 basis points. GAAP operating cash flow was US$1.061 billion, and adjusted free cash flow was US$661 million; adjusted free cash flow for the first nine months was US$2.272 billion, up about 1.3 times year-over-year. The company expects fourth-quarter core sales of US$5.2 billion to US$5.3 billion, up about 19% year-over-year, and core earnings per share of US$0.96 to US$1.00, up about 36% year-over-year, both above market expectations of about US$5.2 billion and US$0.93. After the results were announced, Corning Inc's premarket share price rose by more than 6% at one point.