ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) ? Specialty glass maker Corning Inc. said Wednesday that its profit slumped 53 percent in the fourth quarter but its revenue rose 7 percent on stronger sales of glass for flat-screen televisions, computers and mobile devices.
The world's largest maker of liquid-crystal-display glass cautioned, however, that it is reducing glass prices in the current quarter to help panel makers overcome financial strains in the LCD market. Its shares fell almost 7 percent in premarket trading.
Corning said its net income fell to $491 million, or 31 cents per share, in the October-December period. That's down from $1.04 billion, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding special items, earnings were 33 cents a share in the latest period. That matches Wall Street expectations.
Revenue rose 7 percent to $1.89 billion from $1.77 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected revenue of $1.85 billion.
Sales of LCD glass rose 4 percent in the quarter to $780 million. However, Chief Financial Officer Jim Flaws said "price declines would be significant" in the first quarter as they were in the fourth quarter.
"We are working closely with our customers to reduce glass prices to help them with their immediate financial strains," Flaws said. "We are hopeful that our pricing actions, combined with our capacity decisions, will help us get back to more stable price declines in the coming quarters.
Corning expects the retail market for LCD products to grow from about 3.2 billion square feet in 2011 to 3.6 billion square feet in 2012.
Its shares fell $1, or 6.8 percent, to $13.62 in premarket trading. The stock has ranged from $11.51 to $23.43 in the past year.
DisplaySearch estimates that 206 million LCD-TVs were shipped worldwide in 2011, up 7.5 percent from 2010, while shipments in North America fell 2 percent to 37.5 million units.
In 2012, the market-research firm in Austin, Texas, projects a 9 percent jump in global shipments of 225 million units, and a 3.7 percent rise in North American shipments of 38.9 million units.
"Without the big inventory problem plaguing the supply chain like it did last year, and with small but continuous improvements in the economic outlook ... there's better times ahead for the industry," said DisplaySearch analyst Paul Gagnon.
Propelled by ultra-strong Gorilla glass used in handheld and tablet devices, specialty materials revenue swelled 21 percent to $238 million.
Environmental technologies revenue amounted to $238 million, in line with a year ago. Life-sciences revenue rose 2 percent to $143 million, and telecommunications sales rose 11 percent to $490 million.
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