CORNING INC /NY (GLW) Stock Analysis
CORNING INC /NY
▾ What's in the 44/100 risk score? (higher = riskier)
Contributions (weight × component score) sum to the total. This near-term score now includes fundamental health (leverage, FCF trend). See the Financial Health section for the full balance-sheet read.
How to read GLW
We are not publishing an intrinsic value for this one — the section below says exactly why. Everything on this page that comes straight from the filings and the tape is still here; treat the missing valuation as a known gap, not as a verdict on the business.
-
1
Reported earnings & margins ↓
What the company actually reported — unaffected by the valuation being held.
-
2
Balance sheet & book value ↓
Assets, liabilities and equity as filed.
-
3
Who's selling & betting against it ↓
Insider and short-interest behaviour needs no valuation model.
Our DCF for GLW lands well below today's price. For a non-cyclical that usually means the market is pricing in growth far beyond recent cash flows (or there's a data quirk), so we don't headline a single fair-value number.
What to use instead: The Reverse-DCF shows exactly how much growth the price demands — decide whether that's realistic. Pair it with peer multiples.
This note is only about the single DCF fair-value number — GLW's full financial statements, health scores, and written analysis are all below.
Bankruptcy + quality screens
Cheap stocks can be cheap for a reason. These screens warn when a low valuation comes paired with structural fragility.
Why it matters: Cheap-looking stocks (low P/E or P/B) often have low Z-scores because the market knows the company is dying. Z-score warns you before you fall into a value trap.
Reference: > 3.0 = safe zone · 1.81–3.0 = grey zone · < 1.81 = distress zone
Full explanation →
Safe zone under the classic Altman thresholds — companies scoring here have historically gone bankrupt only rarely within ~2 years. A screening signal, not a guarantee.
The classic Z-score was calibrated on manufacturers. It is less reliable for asset-light or non-manufacturing businesses (broadcasters, media, software, services) and not applicable to banks, REITs, or insurers — for those the coefficients and the asset-turnover term distort the result. Read it as one screening input, not a verdict.
Why it matters: High score = fundamentals improving. Low score = deteriorating. Especially powerful for filtering cheap stocks: cheap + high F-score historically outperforms; cheap + low F-score is often a value trap.
Reference: 7–9 = strong · 4–6 = mediocre · 0–3 = weak
Full explanation →
▾ The checks — what passed, what didn't (and what we couldn't measure)
-
✓ Positive net incomeNet income $1,596.0M in FY2025.
-
✓ Positive operating cash flowOperating cash flow $2,695.0M (was $1,939.0M the prior year).
-
✓ Cash flow backs up reported profitOperating cash flow $2,695.0M vs net income $1,596.0M.
-
✓ Return on assets improvingReturn on assets 5.2% vs 1.8% a year ago.
-
✓ Debt load (vs assets)Long-term debt is 24.6% of assets vs 24.8% a year ago ($7,630.0M of $30,976.0M assets).
-
✗ Short-term liquidity (current ratio)Current ratio 1.59x vs 1.62x a year ago.Why this matters: The current ratio compares assets it can turn to cash within a year against bills due within a year. Below 1.0 means it may struggle to cover near-term obligations.
-
✓ Share count (dilution)Share count held roughly flat (853.0M → 855.0M year-over-year).
-
✓ Pricing power (gross margin)Gross margin 36.0% vs 32.6% a year ago.
-
✓ Sales per asset (asset turnover)Asset turnover 0.50x vs 0.47x a year ago.
Missing data is never counted as a pass or a fail — it's shown as n/a and excluded from the denominator. Each check compares the company against its own prior year.
What if you assume different inputs?
Here's where we land — and what happens if you change the assumptions. Drag the sliders to set your own Discount RateDiscount Rate — The annual return you demand for taking single-stock risk instead of buying a safe Treasury or index fund.
Why it matters: Higher discount rate = stricter valuation (a stock has to produce more cash to be worth holding). Lower = more generous.
Reference: 8–12% is standard · 9–10% matches S&P 500 historical return · Below 7% is illogical for single-stock risk
Full explanation → (the annual return you demand for single-stock risk) and terminal growth; the value updates live so you can see whether the stock looks cheaper or richer. The discount rate starts at 10.0%, the figure our model used for GLW. Open Advanced to also change beta, growth and the rate path.
Note: no headline intrinsic value is published for this stock (the valuation is held for a data-quality reason — see the notes above). The calculator below is a what-if tool: the values it produces are your assumptions played out, not our estimate.
A full intrinsic value isn't shown for GLW because the valuation is currently held for a data-quality reason (see the guardrail notes above). The reverse-DCF reading still works — it needs only the price and cash flow — but we won't publish a forward value until the underlying data passes our checks.
—
⚙ Advanced — tinker with every input (beta, growth, rate path, margin → full intrinsic value)
A standard discounted cash flowDCF — Discounted Cash Flow — sums up all future cash a business will produce, adjusted for the fact that future dollars are worth less than dollars today.
Why it matters: It is the most fundamentally honest valuation method when applicable — but only works for companies with predictable, positive cash flow.
Reference: Best for: mature, profitable businesses. Fails for: pre-profit growth, banks, REITs.
Full explanation → (DCF) valuation is not meaningful for Corning Inc. because the model indicates a significant divergence, with the market price at 8.3x the model's intrinsic valueIntrinsic Value — Our DCF model's estimate of what each share is mathematically worth based on projected cash flows.
Why it matters: Compare to current price. Below IV = potentially undervalued. Above IV = priced for growth that must actually happen.
Reference: Model-derived; quality depends on data and assumptions.
Full explanation →, suggesting the market is pricing optionality or future margin expansion beyond what trailing cash flows support. While the company has positive net income and operating cash flow, revenue has been roughly flat at 2.6% per year over the last four years. Investors are likely betting on the company's ability to leverage its specialized materials science expertise into new high-growth applications or expand margins significantly. The biggest risk to our assumptions is that long-term debt is rising, from $6.989 billion to $7.630 billion, which could constrain future investments or cash returns if not managed effectively.
As of 4 days ago
Anatomy of a share
What you're buying per share. Bars are at the same scale so you can see the relative size of revenue, costs, cash flow, and debt — not just read them in a table.
What's free cash flow / what do these mean?
Revenue per share — how much the business earns from customers, divided by the number of shares outstanding. Top of the income statement.
Earnings per share — profit left after operating costs, interest, and taxes, per share. Two versions appear on this page and are not interchangeable: GAAP diluted EPS uses the company's weighted-average diluted share count during the reporting period (this is the "earnings" in "price-to-earnings"); net income per current share divides annual net income by today's share count. They differ whenever the share count has changed.
Owner-earnings free cash flow per share — the cash the business produces for shareholders. Savng's owner-earnings FCF subtracts capital expenditures and stock-based compensation from operating cash flow (SBC is a real dilution cost even though it's non-cash). This is deliberately more conservative than "standard" FCF, which subtracts only capital expenditures — so our figure is lower than the headline FCF you'll see elsewhere. FCF funds dividends, buybacks, debt repayment, and acquisitions; a company can report positive earnings yet negative FCF.
Debt per share — total interest-bearing borrowings divided by shares. High debt-per-share next to thin FCF-per-share is a fragility signal.
What you actually need to decide
Every stock price is a disagreement. Here's the single thing that must go right for the bulls, the single thing that breaks the thesis, and the concrete signposts to watch so you can update your view as real results arrive.
Why it matters: A company can show big profits on paper while burning through cash. FCF is what actually fills the bank account.
Reference: Healthy mature businesses convert 8–15% of revenue into FCF · Growth companies often negative
Full explanation → ($1.1 billion latest fiscal year) could be constrained.
- Announcements of new major customer wins or product adoptions in emerging markets
- Trends in gross margin relative to the stable 36%
- Changes in the trajectory of long-term debt
The trend, in plain numbers (FY2024 → FY2025, latest reported)
Straight from the financial statements — no model, no opinion. For a small or unprofitable company, the direction of these numbers usually tells you more than any single valuation.
- Revenue grew +19% to $15.63B.
- Free cash flow rose to $1.13B.
- Gross margin improved to 36% (+3 pts).
- Net income grew +215% to $1.60B.
Nothing was clearly worsening year-over-year.
Management & Leadership
Wendell P. Weeks serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Corning Inc. Other key executives include Tony Tripeny as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Eric S. Musser as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. These names are from public sources and may not reflect the absolute latest filing.
What They Make
Corning Inc. is a global leader in materials science, specializing in glass, ceramics, and optical physics. They produce a wide range of products including display glass for televisions and mobile devices, optical fiber and cable for communications networks, and specialized glass for automotive and life sciences applications. Their paying customers are primarily manufacturers in the consumer electronics, telecommunications, automotive, and life sciences industries.
End Markets
Revenue Drivers
Why Is It Priced Like This?
Why Customers Pay
What we use instead: earnings (P/E, EV/EBIT), book value (P/B), dividend yield & payout — computed from the figures this company does report, shown in the sections below. Those numbers are unaffected by the missing cash-flow data.
The market is likely pricing Corning based on expectations for future growth in its specialized materials segments and potential margin expansion, rather than its current cash flow generation, which has seen revenue roughly flat at 2.6% annually over the last four years. The market may be assigning value to the potential for new applications of its advanced glass and ceramics in emerging technologies, such as augmented reality or advanced automotive displays, which is not in the model. The company's consistent profitability (profitable 5/5 years) and positive operating cash flow ($2.7 billion latest fiscal year) provide a stable base for these future bets.
Business Model & Valuation
How They Make Money
Corning funds its operations and investments primarily through its positive operating cash flow of $2.7 billion, with long-term debt rising from $6.989 billion to $7.630 billion.
Growth / Revenue DCF
Extreme market premium (P/FCF 127x): market is pricing future growth far beyond current FCF. Using revenue/margin model.
Show advanced inputs
| Revenue Growth | 2.6% |
What this model does NOT do: this is a consolidated owner-earnings FCF model. Standalone segment assumptions: none. It does not project product, services and recurring/cloud lines independently; their combined effect is embedded in the historical revenue and cash-flow trend the model extrapolates. The calculator above can only approximate a segment's impact through the single consolidated growth rate — it cannot model any one line separately. For a true segment-level view, build a separate model from the company's segment disclosures.
Maturity & Competitive Position
Moat Signals
Revenue has been roughly flat, growing at 2.6% per year over the last four years, from $14.082 billion to $15.6 billion.
Geography & Markets
Not available from current data sources. Corning Inc. is a global company, and while specific geographic revenue mix is not provided, it is known to operate across major regions including North America, Europe, and Asia.
Geographic Risks
Market Signals
These are timing signals, not value signals — they describe the stock's recent price behavior, not what the business is worth. Use them for the "the thesis looks good, but is now the moment?" question. Each tile below explains what it's saying.
Why it matters: Short-term contrarian indicator. Extreme readings often precede mean reversion, though not always.
Reference: 30–70 normal · >70 overbought · <30 oversold
Full explanation → (14)56.9NeutralMomentum is balanced — neither overbought nor oversold.
Why it matters: When the fast line crosses above the slow line, short-term momentum is turning up; below, turning down. A timing cue, not a value signal.
Reference: Line above signal = bullish momentum · below = bearish
Full explanation →BullishLine above signalThe fast trend is above the slow trend — short-term momentum is currently upward.
Technicals describe price, not the business. A great company can have a "bearish" tape (a buying chance) and a weak one a "bullish" tape (a trap). Pair these with the valuation and health sections above.
QUALITY
Data Quality & Risk Flags (6 notes — click to expand/collapse)
Guardrail Notes (6)
- Revenue/margin projection model used - trailing FCF may understate growth runway at current scale.
- Terminal growth set to 2.1% — the lowest of the applicable caps (binding: 80% of near-term growth (2.6%)). We use one effective terminal rate everywhere on the page.
- Price is far above the model output - market may be pricing optionality, narrative catalysts, or margin expansion beyond what trailing cash flows support.
- Extreme valuation: the price is far above the model output for a non-cyclical — likely dominated by a data issue. The model value is suppressed.
- VALUATION HELD (EXTREME_MODEL_GAP): per-share values suppressed due to the model output failed plausibility checks.
- Extreme valuation gap (P/IV withheld — see the note above): result may be dominated by model assumptions, share count issues, or sector-specific dynamics. Treat as low confidence.
FINANCIALS
Financial Statements (5-year tables — click to expand)
From CORNING INC /NY's SEC filings (EDGAR).
Income (5yr)
| Year | Revenue | Net Income | EPS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15.6B | 1.6B | $1.83 |
| 2024 | 13.1B | 506.0M | $0.58 |
| 2023 | 12.6B | 581.0M | $0.68 |
| 2022 | 14.2B | 1.3B | $1.54 |
| 2021 | 14.1B | 1.9B | $1.28 |
Cash Flow (5yr)
| Year | Operating CF | CapEx | − SBC | Free Cash Flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2.7B | 1.3B | 286.0M | 1.1B |
| 2024 | 1.9B | 965.0M | 273.0M | 701.0M |
| 2023 | 2.0B | 1.4B | 218.0M | 397.0M |
| 2022 | 2.6B | 1.6B | 175.0M | 836.0M |
| 2021 | 3.4B | 1.6B | 190.0M | 1.6B |
How we define FCF: operating cash flow − capital expenditure − stock-based compensation (owner-earnings basis — SBC is a real cost to shareholders even though it's non-cash). Latest year: 2.7B − 1.3B − 286.0M (stock-based comp) = 1.1B. This is the same owner-earnings FCF definition the valuation model uses, though the DCF's starting value is a projected from revenue × terminal margin, not this single year.
Balance Sheet
| Total Assets | 31.0B |
| Total Liabilities | 18.7B |
| Equity | 11.8B |
| Total Debt | 8.4B |