Second-quarter net income for the largest maker of glass for liquid crystal display televisions and computers, rose to $3.2 billion, or $2.01 a share, from $489 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, Corning's net income was 49 cents a share, matching average expectations of analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates.

Sales climbed to $1.69 billion, up 19 percent from last year's second-quarter sales of $1.42 billion.

Second-quarter sales for Corning's Display Technologies segment were $809 million, a 33 percent increase over the second quarter 2007, but a 2 percent decline from the first quarter.

The company also said it plans to buy back another $1 billion of its own shares.

Chief Executive Wendell Weeks said the company's strong results came despite concerns about a U.S. economic slowdown.

However, Corning said its display segment results were hurt by a manufacturing interruption that affected shipments to one of its customers. The interruption reduced Corning's second-quarter sales by $24 million and net income by $16 million.

Also, second-quarter sales and net income were negatively affected by the weaker-than-expected yen-to-U.S. dollar exchange rate in the quarter.

The glass maker said third-quarter earnings per share would be 48 cents to 51 cents before special items, on sales of $1.65 billion to $1.72 billion.

Analysts were looking for profit of 50 cents a share on revenue of $1.80 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul, editing by Maureen Bavdek)