Corning tumbles 18% after earnings, leading rout in optical stocks

Shares of glassware maker Corning dove 18% on Tuesday after the company reported its second-quarter earnings, dragging down other optical component names in the artificial intelligence space. Despite the company posting a beat on the top and bottom lines, revenue forecasts for the current quarter fell below Wall Street's consensus.

The company expects core revenue to grow 16%, a range of $4.9 billion to $5 billion. Factset expected $5 billion. Corning reported earnings per share before the bell on Tuesday of 78 cents versus estimates of 76 cents. Revenue came in at $4.74 billion, also topping the Street's estimates of $4.61 billion.

The stock was on pace for its worst day since July 30, 2002, when it fell 21.59%. Shares of other optical component names like Marvell , Lumentum , AXT and Coherent were down double digits following the print.

Corning's networking solutions and fiber optic cable have become a growing portion of the AI data center buildout, since their equipment enables fast connections between the facilities and the racks and chips inside. In June, Corning inked its latest multi-year deal to power and connect Amazon's expanding fleet of data centers, one in a string of billion-dollar deals it's inked in recent months as hyperscalers and other AI companies race to meet their skyrocketing demand for computing power.