Though Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)‘s 13% year-to-date rise has slightly outpaced the broader market so far in 2013, Corning stock has some investors worried after falling nearly 12% from its 52-week-high set just last month.
That said, despite the short-term drop, I still think there’s plenty to like about Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) stock when you approach it from a long-term perspective.
Here are two reasons, then, you might want to buy Corning stock now:
A turn for the best
Remember, in April, I highlighted some comments from Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) CEO Wendell Weeks at the company’s annual meeting, where he said he firmly believes Corning’s strong performance over the past two quarters shows Corning stock has “successfully formed bottom and [is] beginning to march up.”
Sure enough, Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has beaten analysts’ expectations on both the top and bottom lines during each of its past two quarters, which undoubtedly contributed to the stock’s recent gains.
With this in mind, I’d argue that nobody knows the ebbs and flows of the market better than Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW), a 162-year-old company, which, as Weeks also pointed out, has survived “recessions, depressions, world wars, industry meltdowns, and numerous evolutions driven by changing markets.”
Considering the fact that analysts are often annoyed by Weeks’ persistence in refusing to manage his company around quarterly-earnings reports, as I wrote before, “I’m inclined to trust the man when he says Corning stock has turned the corner.”
Shareholder-friendly attitude
With that in mind, while owners of Corning stock can rest assured that management isn’t trying to fudge the numbers to cave to Wall Street’s demands, that’s not the only way the company rewards shareholders for their patience.
In April, Corning not only raised its quarterly dividend for the third time in 18 months to $0.10 per share, but also authorized a massive new share repurchase program, enabling it to buy back up to $2 billion in Corning stock through open market or private transactions. What’s more, the company also pointed out the new program is incremental to repurchases totaling $1.5 billion completed in December of last year.
But, considering Corning stock currently trades at just 12.2 times last year’s earnings, and only 10.1 times next year’s estimates, can you blame them for thinking it looks cheap?
A different view
Finally, in addition to Corning’s wildly popular products like Gorilla Glass — which is used to protect millions upon millions of smartphones and tablets, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)‘s own iPhone and iPad lineup, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy series devices — Corning last week also announced a strategic collaboration with View, to further develop View’s incredible “dynamic glass” product.
Namely, according to the press release, Corning will lead from a financial investment standpoint as well as by providing access for View to Corning’s specialized fusion glass process, both of which will serve to support the development of dynamic glass technologies for exterior architectural applications.
But what, exactly, is dynamic glass? In short, think of a window pane which can automatically transition between clear and variable tints in response to the environment around it, in effect allowing it to regulate the amount of heat and glare that enters a building.
