Sees Significant Glass Price Declines in 2012

Shares of Corning (GLW) are down $1.02, or almost 7%, at $13.60 after the company this morning reported Q4 revenue slightly ahead of expectations and profit per share in line with estimates, but said prices for glass this quarter continue to fall “significantly.”
Revenue in the three months ended in December rose 7%, year over year, to $1.9 billion, yielding EPS of 33 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting $1.84 billion and 33 cents.
CEO Wendell Weeks said 2011 had seen the company’s best sales performance in its 161-year history.
But he also remarked that “In the fourth quarter, we experienced significant LCD glass price declines due to a confluence of factors in the display market,” and that falling prices in the solar panel industry, a result of lower demand and the drastic decline in pricing of polysilicon materials, had hurt the profit of its Dow Corning venture.
CFO James Flaws remarked Corning had to cut glass prices and clear inventory to adjust to weakening global demand:

We are working closely with our customers to reduce glass prices to help them with their immediate financial strains. To that end, price declines will be significant in the first quarter of 2012, as they were in last year's fourth quarter. We expect significant double-digit price declines over the cumulative two-quarter period. We are hopeful that our pricing actions, combined with our capacity decisions, will help us get back to more stable price declines in the coming quarters.

Apple: Sterne Agee Ups iPad Estimate, Dismisses Rumors of Cuts

Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning writes that he’s been receiving questions from some Apple (AAPL) investors about rumored cuts in iPad production, inquiries he believes are “misplaced” given that the issue for the iPad appears to be supply of the “Retina Display” being limited, not anything about declines in demand.
“What we are picking up are strong follow-up demand trends for the new iPad despite a very strong start of 3 million units sold in the first few days,” writes Wu.
Wu thinks display supplies may improve, and he’s also unfazed by reports there may have been cuts in work hours at supplier Foxconn:

we anticipate supply to improve over the course of the next few quarters as additional production lines and suppliers are added. In addition, what could also be causing concern is news that Hon Hai Foxconn employees have had their individual working hours cut. This is not due to a slowdown in production but rather conforming to more sound labor practices where there will be a cap on overtime hours per month per employee. This is in an effort to improve working conditions. From our understanding, the irony is that many employees prefer to work more overtime.

Wu actually raised his estimate for iPad sales for fiscal Q2 that ended last month to 12.3 million from a prior 11.5 million. He sees the company selling 63 million units this calendar year, up from a prior 60 million estimate. That should produce revenue of $161.2 billion and EPS of $44.50 this fiscal year, up from a prior $160 billion and $43.80.
Apple shares today are down $1.45 at $626.99.