Corning's Control Over LCD?
Palm, and every other PDA manufacturer, need extra buildup of LCD. Who offers these products? The suppliers to the PDA companies will have excellent financials in the coming 3-18 months.
WSJ article on GLW:
Thanks Pat!
interactive.wsj.com@6.cgi?mfmuse/tex...
In part:
. . .Demand for fiber, optical components and other telecom equipment is fierce. But given Corning's big run-up in the last year, is it still attractive? I think so. Consider its rivals. In the fiber market, Corning's main competitor is Lucent - a company with more problems than the math section of the SAT. Lucent's 2001 price-to-earnings ratio of 32.9 might look like a bargain compared with Corning's 88, but in this case, you get what you pay for.
In optical components, it's the opposite story. Corning's P/E looks awfully low when compared with industry leaders like JDS Uniphase (JDSU) (268.8), Broadcom (BRCM) (353) and SDL (SDLI) (245) - to say nothing of big components buyers like Ciena (CIEN) (312.7) and Sycamore (SCMR) (1024.4).
I think Corning deserves a higher multiple, for a few reasons. First, its telecom business is chugging along as well as any other. Second, and just as important, telecom isn't its only business. Corning's information-display division, which makes the glass used for flat-panel LCD computer monitors and other screens, grew 30% in the second quarter, to $215 million, and demand remains high. LCD screens are used in laptop computers, personal digital assistants, flat-screen televisions, small DVD players and digital cameras - and will increasingly be incorporated into cell phones, kitchen appliances and other gadgets. According to Corning spokesman Robert DeMallie, the company controls two-thirds of this market, and more than 80% of its future LCD capacity is already under long-term contract..
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