SanDisk Q3: Smashes expectations with record revenue, strong profits; dishes out dividend

Flash memory provider SanDisk is heading into the holiday season with a boost as it smashed Wall Street expectations.

The company reported third quarter revenues of $1.63 billion, up 28 percent on the year-ago quarter, or $1.18 cents a share (statement). Wall Street was expecting SanDisk to report third quarter earnings of $1.57 billion, or $1.32 a share.

On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $371 million on $1.59 per share.

The company did report, however, an $83 million partial impairment from its 2011 acquisition of Pliant Technologies.

SanDisk's cash pile stood at $4.3 billion in total at the end of the quarter.

SanDisk CEO and president Sanjay Mehrotra said in prepared remarks the company's "outstanding" third quarter results were driven by its strategy to shift towards higher-value solutions across its portfolio range.

He added:

"Our client and enterprise SSD [solid-state drive] products continue to gain momentum and our acquisition of SMART Storage Systems expands our presence in enterprise SSDs. With our solid execution, we also delivered strong year over year growth in retail and embedded products."

SanDisk also issued a fourth quarter dividend of $22.5 cents per share on the company's common stock (statement). Shareholders will receive the payout in November.

The flash storage maker also said it spent a total of $1.07 billion on buying back stock during the third quarter. During the three-month period, it also completed its acquisition of SMART Storage Systems. 

Shares in SanDisk ($SNDK) have climbed slowly since the height of the 2008 global financial crisis. Bar from a significant drop in the second quarter of 2012, shares have jumped again to its highest levels since early 2006.

The company closed 0.7 percent up at $62.94 per share. In after-hours trading, its stock spiked to $64 a share, but leveled out about 1 percent up on market closing value.