By Subrat Patnaik
(Reuters) - Corning Inc the supplier of Gorilla glass to Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) Co Ltd, said it expects to sell more LCD glass in the second quarter.
The company, which also supplies LCD panels to consumer electronics companies such as Sony Corp and LG Electronics Inc, also forecast a slowdown in a decline in glass prices in the quarter.
Corning shares were up 2.8 percent in premarket trading on Tuesday.
The company said it expects current-quarter sales in its optical communications business to increase by a mid-teen percentage as demand from carrier and enterprise networks remains strong.
In March, the company completed the acquisition of Samsung Electronics' fiber optics business.
Current-quarter sales in its specialty materials business, which includes Gorilla Glass, is expected to decrease by a mid-single digit percentage, the company said.
Corning, however, expects Gorilla Glass sales to remain strong in the second-quarter, allaying some of the concerns regarding decline in its specialty materials business.
The company expects a low single-digit percentage rise in LCD glass volume in the second quarter over the first quarter.
Glass prices decline in second quarter will be moderate, in low-single digit percentages, Corning Senior Vice President Tony Tripeny told Reuters.
Core sales at the display technologies business, which includes LCDs, rose marginally to $972 billion.
Corning said net sales slipped a percent to $2.27 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 from $2.29 billion a year earlier.
The company's net income rose to $407 million, or 29 cents per share, from $301 million, or 20 cents per share. Core net sales were $2.43 billion.
The company reported core earnings of 35 cents per share.
Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 34 cents per share and revenue of $2.48 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.