The Corning investment story looks even more appealing after Jim Cramer and CEO Wendell Weeks spoke on Thursday night’s “Mad Money.” A day after Corning’s blockbuster optical partnership with Nvidia, Weeks shed more light on new supply deals between the company and two unnamed hyperscalers. Corning disclosed these for the first time last week with its financial results, but the details were not clear. Here are Weeks’ comments that caught our attention in Jim’s interview: “This is probably the largest commercial agreement of my career that we just signed with Nvidia. And those other two major agreements are public Meta. “And some of those customers may want to be more open about that as time goes on.”We knew it was about the same size as the meta deal that Corning disclosed in January, which it said at the time would be worth up to $6 billion by 2030. But of course it’s encouraging to hear that it’s actually bigger. At the very least, the lower limit for these combined deals would be about $12 billion. During Corning’s April 28 earnings call, Weeks said of the two new contracts: “In our last conference call (in January), we shared that we have other contracts in the works of the same size and duration as the meta contract. We currently have two more large, long-term contracts with hyperscale customers, and each of them is similar in size and duration. Now we know who the other customers are. , and we know there will be questions about the details of our arrangements. But our company’s philosophy is to allow customers to decide when and where to announce important supply chain decisions. These deals are very important and we are sharing the risks and benefits of necessary expansion with our strategic customers.” These two hyperscale deals were thought to be worth around $6 billion each, but now appear to be worth at least $6 billion. Corning may be celebrating its 175th anniversary this week, but it also has the outlook for growth as a young startup in a new field, which just so happens to be at the heart of it all. And when you combine that outlook with the experience gained from nearly two centuries of business operations, you have something worth owning. Corning’s efforts over the decades may not have been perfect, but the lessons learned are clearly evident in these recent deals. The company has come under fire in the past when investments to expand production capacity, which were made ahead of profits, did not materialize. But that is precisely why such deals are now taking place, where the customer not only shares the benefits of expanding production capacity, but also the associated risks. That’s why we’re so excited about these blockbuster deals, and why we’re willing to experience some dilution as Corning shareholders in exchange for a deeper relationship with Nvidia, the sun at the center of the AI solar system. Jim also interviewed Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about his company’s partnership with Corning on Thursday night. “It will revitalize American manufacturing,” Jensen said. After all, there aren’t many companies like Corning that can say they ushered in the age of electricity with the glass for light bulbs and the AI revolution with the glass wires that will one day transfer the world’s data at the speed of light. There aren’t many, but there is at least one. And I plan to hold onto it for the upcoming stock price rally, on top of the over 100% jump in stock price already this year. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is a long-term holding of GLW, NVDA, and META. See here for a complete list of stocks.) As a subscriber to Jim Cramer’s CNBC Investment Club, you will receive trade alerts before Jim makes a trade. After Jim sends a trade alert, he waits 45 minutes before buying or selling stocks in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim talks about a stock on CNBC TV, he will issue a trade alert and then wait 72 hours before executing the trade. The above investment club information is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, along with our disclaimer. No fiduciary duties or obligations exist or arise from your receipt of information provided in connection with the Investment Club. No specific results or benefits are guaranteed.
