Corning Inc. GLW did it again Tuesday, beating consensus estimates for the seventh consecutive quarter. Corning earned 45 cents a share for the first quarter, just above the 43-cent consensus estimate. Revenue of $3.26 billion was $130 million ahead of the consensus.
Corning was rewarded with a 3.4% drop Tuesday; given its history of beating the estimates, perhaps two cents better than consensus was just not enough. In addition, the stock has had quite a run recently, up 106% over the past year, and is trading at a 21-year high, so perhaps a little profit taking on earnings day.
GLW currently trades at about 19x next year's consensus earnings and yields 2.16%. Corning has become a dividend champion in the years subsequent to its rise and fall during the tech bubble, increasing its payout at a 17% compound annual growth rate over the last 10 years. The latest hike, in February to 24 cents quarterly, represented a 9% bump.
Corning also has been a serial repurchaser of its own shares and has reduced shares outstanding by more than 41% over the last seven years. During the pandemic Corning paused its share repurchases (what a shame in hindsight, as GLW fell into the high teens early in March 2020), but resumed such activity in April, buying back 4% of its shares outstanding from Samsung Display. I've found the concept of growing dividends along with share buybacks to be a potentially powerful combination, and Corning has been a decent example.
Elsewhere, shares of Mudrick Capital MUDS, which will be taking public Topps of baseball card fame, rose 13% on Tuesday and are up 33% over the last five days. Seems there is a lot of excitement about the Topps initial public offering (IPO) and the company's foray into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The first series of 2021 Topps Baseball "digital collectibles" sold out quickly upon release on April 20, although it was reportedly not a smooth process. Tthe company was selling 50,000 "Standard Packs" of six digital cards for $4.99 each and 25,000 "Premium Packs" of 45 cards for $99.99 each. Some of those cards are now selling for big bucks, and it will be interesting to see what happens next.
I must be a dinosaur; I know there may be money to be made buying and selling NFT collectibles, but I can't get past that feeling of opening a physical pack of baseball cards as a kid. I still vividly remember that day in 1973 when I bought a pack of Topps cards and a test-issue tub of bubble gum, the lid of which was a disc card featuring a baseball player. I got two Willie Mays cards that day; I still have them both, although they are not in great shape.
Perhaps I'll try to get ahold of a pack of the next Topps NFT baseball packs to see if the feeling is similar.
