Corning (GLW -0.54%) reported fiscal 2014 first-quarter earnings before the market opened today. Sales surged 26% in the quarter, with Corning generating net revenue of $2.3 billion, in line with analyst expectations for the period. The specialty glassmaker posted non-generally accepted accounting principles, or non-GAAP, earnings per share that beat by a penny at $0.31 per diluted share, which was up 7% over the same period a year ago.
Corning's decision to integrate Corning Precision Materials into its Display Technologies business helped boost sales by 58% in that segment to $1 billion over the year-ago period. "We are continuing our trend of core earnings improvement with our first-quarter performance. This represents our sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year core earnings growth," said Wendell P. Weeks, Corning's chief executive.
The company's optical communications business also saw improvements in the quarter, as sales increased 26% to $593 million in the period. Moreover, Corning delivered incremental growth across all of its business segments. Additionally, it completed its $2 billion share repurchase program that it announced a year ago and began a new buyback program as part of its Corning Precision Materials acquisition. Shares of Corning were trading down less than 1% at around $20.72 as of 9:45 a.m. on Monday.
