Corning Director's $462,000 Buy
By GRACE L. WILLIAMS / Barrons / Nov 2, 2011
John J. Canning bought 30,000 shares of the glass giant. A recent multiyear low and uncertainties about the coming year for the glass industry hasn't stopped insiders at Corning from seeing the rose-colored side of the company and proving their confidence by buying up shares.
On Oct. 27 and 28, director John J. Canning, Jr. bought 30,000 shares of Corning (ticker: GLW) for $462,000, an average of $15.40 each. This is his first transaction at Corning in 2011. Canning bought 20,000 shares of the glass giant for $383,200, an average of $19.16 each, on Aug. 5, 2010.
Following his recent transaction, Canning directly owns 67,873 shares of Corning, a stake of less than 1%.
Canning has been a director at Corning since 2010 and is co-founder and chairman of Chicago-based investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC.
Sean MacNeal, an analyst for InsiderScore.com, says, "This is an interesting buy in that given Canning's background at Madison Dearborn, his pedigree makes you want to take more notice. I like the fact that it followed up the Chief Financial Officer's purchase in August which was also actionable."
On Aug. 10, CFO James B. Flaws bought 65,000 Corning shares for $876,600, an average of $13.49 each, and followed up the next day by buying 10,000 additional shares for $137,700, an average of $13.77 each. The buys lifted his direct holdings to 270,382 shares.
"When Corning announced its buyback [during the summer], the CEO called the shares undervalued. He's saying it, other insiders are stepping up to back him and someone with Canning's background is good. It's a nice little purchase for Canning," says MacNeal.
Shares skidded to a multiyear low of $11.51 each on Oct. 4, a number it last saw in March 2009. Corning has rebounded since then, closing at $13.96 on Wednesday.
On Oct. 26, Corning's third-quarter earnings topped expectations but that didn't necessarily impress the Street.
Jefferies analyst George C. Notter maintained Corning at Hold with a price target of $15.75. Earnings topped Jefferies' expectations, but the outlook for the display business in the fourth-quarter was "so-so," Notter wrote in a research report. "Incrementally, we have some creeping concerns about the competitive environment in the glass business longer term. Without an obvious fundamental catalyst, we think the shares will remain range-bound over the intermediate- and longer-term," wrote Notter. |
