Corning Inc. (NYSE:GLW)

Debt to Equity Ratio

The debt to equity ratio generally increased from 0.44 in March 2019 to a peak around 0.65 in mid-2020. It then showed a gradual decline to approximately 0.56 by early 2022, followed by moderate fluctuations ranging between 0.57 and 0.67 through early 2024. This indicates some variations in the company's leverage, with a tendency toward moderately higher debt levels relative to equity over the five-year period.

Debt to Capital Ratio

This ratio climbed from 0.31 in early 2019 to about 0.39 during mid-2020, suggesting increased reliance on debt within the capital structure. From 2021 onward, the ratio remained relatively stable in the 0.36 to 0.40 range, indicating a consistent use of debt financing as a portion of total capital.

Debt to Assets Ratio

The ratio rose from 0.22 in March 2019 to around 0.28 in mid-2020. Following this peak, it experienced a gradual decline and stabilized near 0.23 from 2021 through early 2023. Slight upticks occurred toward late 2023 and early 2024, fluctuating near 0.26 to 0.27. This trend suggests that while total debt increased as a share of assets initially, the company managed to moderate this level over time, maintaining a stable debt position relative to asset size.

Financial Leverage Ratio

Financial leverage increased steadily from 2.01 in March 2019 to approximately 2.39 in late 2020, reflecting higher debt levels or lower equity. Subsequently, the ratio showed some volatility but remained broadly within the 2.25 to 2.55 range through 2022 and early 2023. More recent periods display a slight downward trend, settling near 2.46 in early 2024. Overall, this indicates consistent leverage usage with moderate fluctuations.

Interest Coverage Ratio

Data availability for interest coverage commences from December 2019, showing an initial decline from 6.59 to 2.11 in mid-2020, indicating reduced earnings relative to interest expense during that period. From the second half of 2020 to early 2022, interest coverage improved significantly, peaking above 10.0 in mid-2022, suggesting strong earnings capacity to cover interest costs. However, from late 2022 through early 2024, the ratio declined steadily to around 3.63, implying tightening interest coverage and potentially increased credit risk or reduced earnings relative to interest obligations.

Total Debt

The total debt exhibits a generally fluctuating pattern over the observed periods. Starting at 6,025 million USD in March 2019, total debt rose steadily to a peak of 7,827 million USD in March 2020. After this peak, there was a slight decline and some fluctuations around the 7,000 to 8,000 million USD range through 2020 and 2021. Debt decreased moderately towards 6,733 million USD by September 2022 but exhibited a small increase in subsequent quarters, ending at 7,368 million USD in March 2024. Overall, total debt increased from 2019 to early 2020, then showed variability with a slight downward trend late in the period before rising moderately again.

Total Shareholders’ Equity

The shareholders’ equity presented a downward trend in the early quarters, decreasing from 13,607 million USD in March 2019 to 12,198 million USD in March 2020. Afterwards, it marginally recovered with fluctuations, peaking slightly above 13,000 million USD in December 2020. However, a renewed decline occurred from early 2021 onward with some intermittent recoveries, resulting in a reduction from 12,395 million USD in March 2022 to 11,226 million USD in March 2024. The general trend indicates a gradual erosion of equity value over the analyzed period.

Debt to Equity Ratio

The debt to equity ratio reveals an increasing leverage trend early in the data range. It started at 0.44 in March 2019 and steadily climbed to 0.64 by March 2020, reflecting a rising proportion of debt relative to equity. From that point through 2021, the ratio fluctuated moderately between 0.57 and 0.62, indicating some stabilization in capital structure. From mid-2022 through early 2024, the ratio rose again, reaching 0.66 in March 2024, its highest level since the period beginning. This pattern suggests a gradual increase in financial leverage and potentially higher financial risk over time.

Summary Insights

In summary, the entity’s total debt increased during the initial periods with some volatility afterward, while shareholders’ equity generally declined gradually with intermittent fluctuations. The rising debt-to-equity ratio throughout most of the timeline suggests an increasing reliance on debt financing compared to equity. This growing leverage could imply higher financial risk and greater sensitivity to interest rate changes or market conditions. The moderate fluctuations observed in debt and equity values indicate some variability in capital management or external influences affecting the company’s financial position.

The financial data reveals evolving trends in debt and capital structure over the analyzed periods. Total debt exhibited a general upward movement from March 2019, reaching a peak in the fourth quarter of 2019 before experiencing slight fluctuations and a downward tendency towards early 2024.

Total capital fluctuated within a moderate range, with an initial increase reaching a high at the end of 2020, followed by intermittent decreases and partial recoveries. Despite these fluctuations, total capital remained relatively stable overall, without drastic volatility.

The debt to capital ratio shows a notable increase starting in the first quarter of 2020, moving from around 0.31 to peak levels near 0.39–0.40 during various quarters through 2023 and into early 2024. This indicates a rising proportion of debt relative to the capital base over time, suggesting a gradual leverage increase.

Total Debt

Initial increase from $6,025 million to a peak around $7,827 million by March 2020, followed by variations tending downward to $7,368 million by March 2024. The pattern suggests management of debt levels with some reduction in recent quarters.

Total Capital

Moves between approximately $18,000 million and $21,000 million across quarters. Capital peaked in late 2020 and then gradually declined towards the $18,594 million level by March 2024, indicating some contraction or strategic reprioritization of capital structure.

Debt to Capital Ratio

Shows an upward trend beginning around 0.31, increasing steadily through 2020, maintaining levels close to 0.37–0.40 afterward. This suggests increased leverage, possibly reflecting borrowing to support operations or investments despite relatively stable capital.

Overall, the data presents a scenario of cautiously managed debt with leverage ratios increasing moderately while maintaining capital stability. The company appears to have balanced debt utilization with capital to support its financial position, showing responsiveness to varying economic conditions during the period.

The financial data reveals several notable trends in the company’s leverage and asset base over the observed periods from the first quarter of 2019 through the first quarter of 2024.

Total Debt

Total debt exhibited an overall mildly fluctuating pattern with a peak observed near the end of 2019 and early 2020, reaching levels just above 7,800 million US dollars. Following this, a general decline occurred through 2022, descending to approximately 6,733 million US dollars by the third quarter of 2022. However, from late 2022 into 2023, debt levels increased again, peaking around 7,624 million US dollars in the third quarter of 2023 before a slight downward movement toward the beginning of 2024, settling at 7,368 million US dollars.

Total Assets

Total assets presented a relatively stable trend with moderate fluctuations over the examined period. Assets rose from 27,321 million US dollars in early 2019 to a temporary high near 30,775 million US dollars at the end of 2020. Since then, total assets generally declined with some volatility, reaching a low point of 27,618 million US dollars in the first quarter of 2024. This indicates some contraction or asset optimization over the last few quarters.

Debt to Assets Ratio

The ratio of debt to assets tracked closely with the movements in total debt and assets, maintaining a range between 0.22 and 0.28 throughout the period. There was an increasing trend from 0.22 in the first quarter of 2019 up to a peak of around 0.28 at the beginning of 2020, consistent with rising debt and relatively flat or decreasing assets. Subsequently, this ratio declined steadily to about 0.23 during much of 2021 and 2022, reflecting improved balance between debt levels and asset size. Toward the end of 2023 and start of 2024, the ratio increased again to about 0.27, reflecting the recent growth in debt coupled with the declining asset base.

Overall, the data reveals periods of debt expansion accompanied by fluctuations in the asset base, leading to varying leverage levels. The company demonstrated some deleveraging efforts during 2021 and early 2022 but faced renewed financial leverage pressure in late 2022 and throughout 2023. Monitoring the debt to assets ratio remains important, as recent trends suggest a heightened leverage position relative to earlier years.

Total assets

The total assets exhibited moderate fluctuations over the analyzed periods. Starting at approximately 27.3 billion US dollars in March 2019, total assets showed a slight increase toward the end of 2019, reaching nearly 29 billion by December 2019. During 2020, asset levels remained relatively stable with minor growth, peaking at about 30.8 billion US dollars in December 2020.

From 2021 onward, total assets demonstrated a slight downward trend with some short-term variability. After reaching approximately 30.2 billion in early 2022, assets decreased gradually to around 27.6 billion US dollars by March 2024. Overall, the data suggests a peak around late 2020 and early 2022, followed by a consistent but moderate decline in asset base toward the most recent period.

Total Corning Incorporated shareholders’ equity

Shareholders’ equity followed a generally declining trend throughout the examined timeframe. Beginning at about 13.6 billion US dollars in March 2019, equity decreased notably through 2019 and 2020, falling to roughly 12 billion US dollars by mid-2020. Modest recovery signs appeared in late 2020, reaching approximately 13.3 billion US dollars in early 2021.

Subsequently, equity declined again throughout 2021 and 2022, ending close to 11.3 billion US dollars in late 2022. A slight recovery was observed in early 2023, but the declining pattern continued into 2024, reaching approximately 11.2 billion US dollars by March 2024. This persistent downward movement indicates pressure on the equity position over time, with intermittent periods of minor improvement.

Financial leverage

The financial leverage ratio, defined as the ratio of total assets to shareholders’ equity, consistently exceeded 2.0 across all periods, indicating that liabilities roughly doubled shareholders’ equity. Starting at a ratio of about 2.01 in March 2019, leverage increased steadily and peaked near 2.55 in September 2022.

From late 2022 forward, the leverage ratio hovered around 2.46 to 2.51, reflecting a stabilized but elevated leverage level compared to earlier years. The rising trend in leverage suggests an increasing reliance on debt or other liabilities relative to equity, which could imply increased financial risk exposure over the interval.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT)

EBIT experienced significant fluctuations over the observed periods. Initially, during 2019, it showed variability with a high of 633 million USD in March decreasing sharply to 73 million USD in December. The figure turned negative at -44 million USD in March 2020, likely reflecting adverse business conditions early in that year. Subsequently, EBIT recovered strongly with peaks such as 904 million USD in March 2021 and maintained elevated levels through 2021 and 2022, with a notable peak of 854 million USD in March 2022. However, from late 2022 into 2023, there was a marked decline, with values dropping multiple times below 500 million USD, including a low of 52 million USD in March 2023. The first quarter of 2024 showed a modest recovery to 379 million USD, though still below peak levels of previous years.

Interest expense

Interest expense steadily increased throughout the period under review. From 52 million USD in the first quarter of 2019, the expense rose incrementally to reach a high of 90 million USD in December 2023. Despite some slight fluctuations, the general trend indicates growing financing costs or debt levels over time. The most recent quarter in March 2024 shows a small decrease to 83 million USD, suggesting a potential stabilization or reduction effort.

Interest coverage ratio

The interest coverage ratio, calculated as EBIT divided by interest expense, showed significant volatility in the initial periods. Data before late 2019 is missing or unavailable. Starting from December 2019, the ratio showed a decline from 6.59 down to 2.11 in the first half of 2020, reflecting diminished EBIT relative to increasing interest expenses. From the second half of 2020 onward, the ratio improved substantially, peaking at above 10 times in mid-2022. This indicates a period during which EBIT was strong compared to interest costs. However, from late 2022 into 2023, the coverage ratio declined considerably, reaching levels around 3.48 to 3.63 in late 2023 and early 2024, indicating reduced buffer to cover interest obligations, consistent with the observed drop in EBIT.

Summary of trends and insights

Overall, the data reveals a cycle of volatility in operating profitability, with a sharp downturn coinciding with the early 2020 period, possibly due to external economic disruptions. Recovery in EBIT was robust throughout 2021 and 2022, supporting strong interest coverage ratios despite increasing interest expenses. More recently, both EBIT and interest coverage have weakened, pointing to a potential squeeze on operating income vis-à-vis financing costs. The continuous increase in interest expenses suggests rising debt service burdens, which, combined with the weakening EBIT, may merit careful monitoring of financial stability and leverage going forward.