Corning Inc.'s (GLW, $24.92, $0.52, 2.13%) board approved a five-year, $795 million capital-expenditure plan to find a Japanese glass manufacturing plant and to enable the company to be the primary TFT-grade Gen 10 substrate supplier to Sharp Corp. (SHCAY). The specialty glass and ceramics company expects total 2008 capital expenditures of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion, including the Gen 10 facility. The Gen 10 investment will begin with an initial capital expenditure of $400 million in 2008, the company said. Corning plans to begin mass producing liquid crystal display panels for large televisions at the plant by March 2010.
Finisar Corp.'s (FNSR, $1.60, -$0.03, -1.84%) fiscal second-quarter loss narrowed to $9.77 million, or 3 cents a share, from $30.3 million, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. The data communications equipment company said revenue fell 6.9% to $100.7 million from $108.2 million a year ago. Analysts expected revenue of $104 million.
Standard & Poor's said video-game retailer GameStop Corp. (GME, $57.90, $0.69, 1.21%) will replace Dow Jones & Co. (DJ, $59.89, $0.06, 0.10%) in the S&P 500 Index. S&P is making the change with the pending final approval of Dow Jones' acquisition by News Corp. (NWS, $21.19, $0.09, 0.43%). Dow Jones is the parent company of MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's and Dow Jones Newswires.
G-III Apparel Group Ltd.'s (GIII, $14.86, $1.02, 7.37%) third-quarter earnings rose to $23.8 million from $23.3 million a year ago. On a per share basis, earnings fell to $1.41 from $1.59 with more shares outstanding than in the prior-year period. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, sales rose 11% to $271.2 million from $244.7 million a year earlier. Analysts expected earnings of $1.39 a share on revenue of $279 million. The outerwear and sportswear maker said it expects fiscal 2008 earnings of 98 cents to $1.03 a share on sales of $510 million. Wall Street, on average, expects fiscal 2008 earnings of $1.03 a share on revenue of $511 million.
General Dynamics Corp. (GD, $92.43, $2.57, 2.86%) said it has authorized the repurchase of up to 10 million, or 2.5%, of the company's 402 million shares outstanding, with purchases to be made "at management's discretion."
Greif Inc. (GEF, $56.27, $1.20, 2.18%) said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $55 million from $41.7 million in the year-ago period. The company said earnings for the company's Class A stock rose to 93 cents a share from 71 cents a share last year. Using the company's Class B shares, per-share net income rose to $1.42 from $1.08. Analysts had estimated a profit of 97 cents a share. Revenue rose to $882.3 million from $735.6 million from last year. The company forecast fiscal 2008 earnings of $3.80 to $4 a share for the Class A common stock.
Hot Topic Inc. (HOTT, $6.17, $0.03, 0.49%) said November sales at stores open at least one year fell 8.3% from a year earlier. Analysts estimated same-store sales to drop 6.7%. Sales in November totaled $56.2 million, up 1.3% from a year earlier, said the specialty retailer.
NovaStar Financial (NFI, $2.48, $0.40, 19.23%) said it got another waiver on financing from Wachovia Corp. until Dec. 7. The bank agreed on Nov. 30 not to enforce a covenant that requires NovaStar to maintain a certain adjusted tangible net worth. NovaStar had breached that covenant as of Sept. 30, but got a waiver from Wachovia until Nov. 30. The new agreement, disclosed in a regulatory filing late Wednesday, extends that waiver until Friday.
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