Shares of Corning had a tough July but a Truist analyst team believes the stock now has a “more reasonable entry point.”
Shares of the optical networking company declined 0.5% to $137.52 in premarket trading on Monday after ending Friday up 2.2%. Corning and other optical networking names have become a major part of the artificial-intelligence trade.
That also means Corning is at the whim of AI sentiment and as that shifted last month, Corning shares suffered.
The stock sank 46% in July, dropping 12% this past Tuesday alone as mostly in-line guidance disappointed investors. The selloff last month made Corning the second-worst performing component in the S&P 500, behind only Sandisk.
But now Wall Street sees an opportunity. Corning, notably, closed right at its 200-day moving average, around the $600 level, on Wednesday. Shares bounced after that key level on Thursday.
Truist analyst Matthew Niknam upgraded the stock to a Buy from Hold with a new price target of $175, down from $205, in a note Sunday. The updated price target represents about 27% upside from Friday’s closing price.
Niknam wrote that the “pullback provides opportunity” for investors to get into Corning at a price that won’t break the bank.
“Simply put, we have waited for a more reasonable entry point to get more constructive, and we now have one post a ~45% pullback in July,” Niknam wrote.
The analyst wrote that the Buy upgrade is based customer spending in the company’s optical segment remaining “firm,” accelerating revenue growth over the next several years, upside to operating margins, and an estimated 30% earnings annual growth rate through 2029.
While Niknam sees strong underlying business trends for Corning, he wrote that continued concern around the AI trade could be a significant headwind.
“Fears around durability of the ‘AI trade’ and sustainability of elevated hyperscaler capex could weigh on sentiment, given the Optical segment (~45% of sales) is driving the lion’s share of GLW’s forward growth,” Niknam wrote.
For the current quarter, the optical networking and glassmaker forecasts adjusted earnings of 85 cents to 89 cents a share on core sales of $4.9 billion to $5 billion. Wall Street expects third-quarter earnings of 87 cents a share with sales totaling $4.99 billion, according to FactSet.
Despite the sharp decline last month, Corning stock remain up 56% this year and has gained 115% over the past 12 months.
Among other stocks in the same sector, Ciena declined 2.19% in premarket trading Monday. Coherent and Lumentum were down 2.9% and 2.6%, respectively.
