Corning sees $20B run rate early on Verizon deal

Corning expects to achieve an annualized sales run rate of $20 billion during the third quarter, reaching that threshold earlier than previously planned. Speaking at Citi's TMT Conference on 12 September, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Ed Schlesinger stated that third-quarter sales should land at the upper end of, or slightly above, prior guidance.

Management expects high-teens year-over-year revenue growth to continue through the fourth quarter and into next year. The acceleration is supported by a new multi-year, multi-billion-dollar agreement with Verizon, with whom Corning holds a 30-year supplier relationship. Alongside existing deals with Lumen and Zayo, Corning now expects to reach its targeted $1 billion annual data-center interconnect revenue ahead of its original end-of-decade timetable.

Under its Springboard plan, Corning targets annualized sales of $20 billion by the end of this year, $30 billion by late 2028, and $40 billion by late 2030. For server and switch applications, the company is planning for a $10 billion business by 2030 focused on near-packaged and co-packaged optics, segments where it currently records no revenue. Corning expects initial sales in these technologies next year.

Corning also met its 20% operating margin objective earlier than planned and projects margins will remain above 20%. The company is targeting return on invested capital in the upper teens, with potential to touch 20%, alongside year-over-year free cash flow growth. Within other segments, Corning anticipates its solar business will achieve corporate-average profitability levels by the end of 2027.