Three Takeaways From Corning Incorporated (GLW) Earnings

And I certainly wasn’t alone; Piper Jaffray analyst Jagadish Iyer asked management point-blank during Tuesday’s conference call, “When do you think we can expect to hear more on the traction of Willow Glass?”

Unfortunately, Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) CFO James Flaws responded by bluntly saying “I think we’ll talk more about Willow in the October conference call,” without providing any more detail.

What’s more, Corning didn’t mention anything about Dynamic Glass. That said, perhaps it’s still a bit early to expect updates there considering the ink has barely dried on the collaborative deal.

We did get one unexpected little nugget, however, as management highlighted Corning’s Monday announcement of its latest Gorilla Glass product, dubbed Gorilla Glass NBT, which is Corning’s protective cover solution for touch-enabled notebooks. Better still, Corning already has one big win with Gorilla Glass NBT, as Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) will incorporate it into its latest lineup of new products this fall.

On increasing your slice of the pie
Finally, I wanted to know how Corning’s efforts to continue returning capital to shareholders were going. Remember, in April, the company both increased its dividend for the third time in 18 months, and launched a huge $2 billion share repurchase program. Then, earlier this month, Corning held its dividend steady at $0.10 per share — but we still didn’t know how much common stock it has reabsorbed so far.

Sure enough, the company repurchased around $242 million in common stock during the second quarter. When pressed further by analysts during the Q&A portion of the earnings call, management also elaborated that it expects “to continue to buy back in Q3 probably similar to (or) slightly higher levels.”

Foolish takeaway
In the end, though the market didn’t seem particularly pleased with these results, long-term investors should remain encouraged Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has performed exactly as it promised while maintaining its long-standing shareholder-friendly policies.

That’s why, with Corning stock trading at just 13 times trailing earnings and under 11 times next years’ estimates, I’m convinced its a solid buy.

The article 3 Takeaways From Corning Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Steve Symington.

Fool contributor Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Corning.

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