Corning Inc. key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Corning Inc. had return on equity of 14.2%, an operating margin of 14.6%, debt equal to 71.4% of equity and a current ratio of 1.59. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 38.8% | 46.0% | 45.3% | 41.4% | 42.5% | 41.7% | 40.1% | 40.1% | 39.7% | 39.5% | 35.1% | 31.2% | 36.0% | 31.8% | 31.2% | 32.6% | 36.0% | 36.5% |
| Operating margin | 7.2% | 27.2% | 21.7% | 14.7% | 17.5% | 19.9% | 14.5% | 15.2% | 15.9% | 14.0% | 11.4% | 4.5% | 15.0% | 10.1% | 7.1% | 8.7% | 14.6% | 16.5% |
| Net margin | 37.2% | 53.6% | 35.7% | 20.4% | 25.1% | 25.4% | 14.7% | 39.4% | −4.9% | 9.4% | 8.3% | 4.5% | 13.5% | 9.3% | 4.6% | 3.9% | 10.2% | 12.1% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6.0% | 0.5% | 7.1% | 12.6% | 7.1% | 4.9% | 7.4% | 9.0% | 13.9% |
| Return on equity | 12.9% | 20.4% | 13.9% | 7.7% | 9.2% | 11.6% | 6.6% | 20.1% | −3.0% | 7.2% | 7.2% | 3.9% | 14.9% | 10.8% | 4.9% | 4.6% | 14.2% | 16.9% |
| Return on assets | 9.4% | 15.1% | 10.5% | 5.7% | 6.8% | 8.4% | 4.6% | 13.1% | −1.8% | 3.9% | 3.4% | 1.7% | 6.3% | 4.4% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 5.4% | 6.6% |
| Asset turnover | 0.25 | 0.28 | 0.29 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 0.33 | 0.31 | 0.33 | 0.37 | 0.41 | 0.41 | 0.38 | 0.46 | 0.48 | 0.43 | 0.47 | 0.53 | 0.54 |
| Current ratio | 3.59 | 4.46 | 4.14 | 4.96 | 5.09 | 4.41 | 2.94 | 3.29 | 2.75 | 2.12 | 2.12 | 2.12 | 1.59 | 1.44 | 1.67 | 1.62 | 1.59 | 1.72 |
| Debt to equity | 12.9% | 12.0% | 11.3% | 16.1% | 15.6% | 15.1% | 23.7% | 21.8% | 32.7% | 43.5% | 60.0% | 60.1% | 57.1% | 57.6% | 65.2% | 67.5% | 71.4% | 60.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.9x | 2.7x | 3.4x | 6.8x | 8.0x |
| Effective tax rate | — | — | — | — | — | — | 9.9% | −0.1% | — | 29.1% | 21.1% | 17.5% | 20.2% | 22.9% | 20.6% | 27.2% | 15.1% | 16.8% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 8.6% | 7.4% | 7.1% | 8.1% | 7.8% | 7.2% | 7.0% | 6.8% | 6.8% | 7.1% | 7.0% | 8.8% | 5.7% | 6.3% | 7.1% | 6.1% | 5.1% | — |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 16.3% | 15.3% | 13.0% | 15.0% | 14.4% | 12.4% | 16.6% | 15.6% | 14.6% | 15.9% | 13.8% | 15.5% | 13.0% | 13.4% | 14.6% | 14.7% | 13.6% | 12.8% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 19.9% | 17.2% | 12.2% | 11.6% | 11.3% | 11.0% | 7.4% | 8.2% | 9.8% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 63.5% | 5.5% | 156.8% | 93.1% | 76.8% | 105.9% | 192.5% | 88.5% | 114.5% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 15.5% | 8.8% | 12.6% | 28.9% | 28.9% | 23.9% | 50.7% | 17.5% | — | 64.3% | 77.3% | 153.7% | 45.7% | 70.8% | 170.2% | 194.9% | 62.6% | 47.1% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 430.1% | >999% | 111.1% | 64.5% | 114.0% | 160.8% | 118.2% | 82.2% | 41.1% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 34.2% | 35.2% | 36.0% | 37.1% | 35.5% | 36.9% | 36.1% | 37.3% |
| Operating margin | 11.2% | 12.9% | 14.8% | 14.4% | 15.9% | 15.4% | 15.5% | 18.8% |
| Net margin | 8.9% | 4.5% | 12.1% | 10.5% | 12.8% | 9.0% | 12.4% | 14.0% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 10.5% | −1.7% | 10.4% | 11.0% | 14.7% | 0.7% | 28.7% | 10.6% |
| Current ratio | 1.62 | 1.69 | 1.50 | 1.56 | 1.59 | 1.61 | 1.81 | 1.72 |
| Debt to equity | 67.5% | 67.5% | 67.5% | 71.2% | 71.4% | 76.0% | 67.1% | 60.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 14.3% | 13.6% | 13.3% | 15.2% | 12.1% | 14.2% | 13.5% | 11.6% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $11.3bn of assets due within a year against $6.6bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $11.3bn short-term assets against $13.3bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $2.5bn of cash against $8.2bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 60% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 55% to 60% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $4.2bn of operating cash flow against $8.2bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $2.9bn against $366m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard Corning's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 11 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 9.3% of total assets over 10 years.
- Pricing power 11 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 36.0%, moving by 3.5 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 5 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 13.5%; its worst year was 1.7%.
- Cash conversion 14 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 7 of 7 years, at a median 8.3% of revenue.
- Discipline 15 / 20
The diluted share count rose 6.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.5% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (56 before it).
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