Corning Affirms Pro Forma Earnings Guidance

Business Wire, Feb 16, 2001

Business and Technology Editors

CORNING, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 16, 2001

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), a worldwide leader in optical communications technologies, today updated its outlook for 2001 in response to an announcement by one of the company's key customers.

John W. Loose, Corning's chief executive officer said, "As we previously stated, earlier this year several customers in both our optical fiber and photonic technologies businesses indicated that their order rate may be lower and capital availability issues could cause the overall telecommunications market to soften. Recent announcements in the industry have confirmed our outlook.

"We are continuing with our previously announced plan to respond to the softer market. Our process to reallocate optical fiber volume to customers we had been unable to supply is firmly on track. Also, we continue to experience strong demand for MetroCor(TM), our fiber solution for optical communications in the metropolitan marketplace. As a result, we remain confident that our quarter one results will be within our previously announced guidance range of $0.28 to $0.31."

Loose continued by saying, "The announcement that one of our key customers in the photonic technologies business has reduced its growth rate has led us to adjust our previous guidance from 75% to 90% year over year revenue growth to approximately 50% for this business. As a result we will be accelerating our spending control programs and will continue to evaluate the need for further workforce reductions. We believe these actions coupled with the successful optical fiber programs will allow us to be within our previous guidance range of $1.40 to $1.43 for the full year."

Pro forma net income excludes amortization of purchased intangibles and goodwill, purchased in-process research and development, one-time acquisition costs, discontinued operations and other non-recurring items.

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 2000 were $7.1 billion.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Except for historical information and discussions contained herein, statements included in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially, as discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.