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Byline: Mike Angell
Investor's Business Daily
You might think investors would rejoice at earnings and revenue gains topping 50%. Well, not if the company is talking about things slowing in the next quarter, especially if that company is one that has been booming, such as Corning Inc.
The specialty-glass maker, whose products include fiber-optic components for fast networks, recently reported those big fourth-quarter gains and that outlook for parts of its business
. Its shares fell 20% the next day, and haven't recovered.
Corning uttered the one word analysts never want to hear: "softness." They especially don't want to hear that word applied to Corning's fastest-growing business, optical telecommunications products.
The company said one segment of its optical business, photonics, may be flat inthe first quarter compared with the fourth quarter, not vs. the year-earlier period. Photonics accounts for about 15% of Corning's revenue. It includes the optical amplifiers that boost laser signals down glass cables.