Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) reported Wednesday that its first-quarter profit dropped to $748 million, or 47 cents a share, from $816 million, or 52 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 24% to $1.92 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 44 cents on revenue of $1.87 billion. Gross margin fell to 45.4% from 47.1%.
Remarking on the first-quarter results, Wendell P. Weeks, chairman, chief executive officer and president, said, "We built on the momentum coming out of 2010 to deliver exceptional year-over-year performance from all of our business segments. Our volume across the display business remained strong. We continued to experience very healthy sales and exceptional market acceptance for Gorilla(R) Glass. Our telecommunications performance was robust and at levels we haven't experienced in a number of years, and the recovery in the heavy-duty diesel market has driven our diesel sales to record highs."
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