Corning shares (GLW) rose 4% on Wednesday after Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $134 price target, pointing to fiber optics demand from AI data centers. The target implies about 19% upside from Tuesday's close.
Jefferies expects demand from hyperscalers and telecom carriers to support growth, with Corning's Optical segment scaling up in 2028 as fiber becomes more integrated into data-center equipment. Enterprise and Carrier segments are also expected to help the company reach its 2030 targets, while clearer progress in next-generation pluggable and co-packaged optics is seen as a key catalyst.
Wall Street remains divided. Bernstein lowered its Corning target to $120 from $140 and kept a Market Perform rating; UBS cut to $192, Truist Securities to $175, and Morgan Stanley to $155. For the third quarter of 2026, Corning posted adjusted EPS of $0.91, beating the $0.88 consensus, with revenue up roughly 19% year over year to $5.08 billion. The average 12-month price target is $177.35, and 14 of 18 analysts rate the stock Buy or Strong Buy.
Cisco (CSCO) is set to report Q1 results after the closing bell on Nov. 12, entering the event under technical pressure and with cautious options positioning. The stock is down more than 20% from its YTD high. Options expiring Nov. 20 show a put-to-call ratio of 1.53, and pricing implies a potential floor near $96.71, more than 4% below recent levels. Investors will focus on AI-related orders, enterprise networking demand, cloud infrastructure projects, and guidance, with management needing to demonstrate that AI-driven networking revenue is scaling now rather than remaining a future promise.
Neither report directly involves cryptocurrency tokens, so the direct digital-asset impact appears limited.
