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Yiwen Lu

A glass company rises on demand for fiber-optic cables and data-center boom

Shares of Corning climbed as much as 8% during intraday trading on Tuesday, turning the stock into one of the biggest gainers among S&P 500 stocks. The stock is up more than 64% since the beginning of the year.

Adjusted earnings per share were $0.54 on core sales of $3.73 billion, beating analyst expectations of $0.52 per share on sales of $3.72 billion. Core revenue rose 8% year over year and EPS grew more than 20%.

The glass company is riding on businesses’ demand for generative AI. Corning said that sales were primarily driven by record growth in the enterprise portion of its Optical Communications business, which sells fiber-optic cables for companies building data centers. The segment saw a 36% annual growth in sales. 

Corning also forecasted strong growth for the last quarter of 2024, expecting core sales of about $3.75 billion and core EPS between $0.53 and $0.57. Wall Street expected $0.53 per share, according to FactSet.

Worth noting: when Corning got investors overhyped about its second quarter in July — and then delivered a disappointing Q3 revenue forecast two weeks later — prices were down 6.9%. Corning seems to have learned its lesson about expectation management.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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