Corning (NYSE: GLW) stock is making big gains in Tuesday’s trading following the company’s recent quarterly report. The industrial-technologies specialist’s share price was up 6.5% as of 11:30 a.m. ET.

Corning published third-quarter results after the market closed yesterday and delivered sales and earnings that came in ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. The company reported non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share of $0.54 on revenue of $3.73 billion, beating the average analyst estimate’s call for adjusted earnings of $0.52 per share on sales of $3.72 billion.

Optical communications powered a strong Q3 for Corning

The company’s revenue rose 6.6% year over year in Q3, and adjusted earnings per share came in 20% higher, compared to last year’s quarter. Growth was primarily driven by strong performance from optical communications products.

The segment’s revenue increased 36% year over year to reach $1.25 billion, and sales in the enterprise customers category increased 55%. Meanwhile, revenue for the display technologies segment increased 4% year over year to reach $1.25 billion, and revenue for the specialty materials segment declined 3% year over year to $548 million. Environmental-technologies revenue fell 15% year over year to $382 million.

Corning’s Q4 guidance hit all the right notes

In addition to its better-than-expected Q3 results, Corning issued encouraging guidance for the current quarter. The company anticipates that sales growth will accelerate and earnings will grow faster than sales.

The company is guiding for adjusted revenue of roughly $3.75 billion and adjusted earnings per share of between $0.53 and $0.57. If the business hits management’s sales target, it would deliver annual growth of roughly 13.6%.

Meanwhile, hitting the midpoint of the adjusted-earnings guidance range would mean posting growth of approximately 44%. With strong results in Q3 and guidance for big growth in Q4, it’s not surprising that the stock is seeing increased bullish sentiment today.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Corning. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.