SanDisk Results Top Estimate; To Buyback Addl. $2.5 Bln Stock

(RTTNews) - Flash memory card maker SanDisk Corp (SNDK) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $201.9 million or $0.86 per share compared with $337.8 million or $1.45 per share last year.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.30 per share compared with $1.71 per share a year ago.

Revenues for the quarter were $1.74 billion compared with $1.73 billion in the prior year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $1.27 per share on revenues of $1.73 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

"We delivered record revenue in 2014 with continued progress in shifting our portfolio towards high value solutions," said CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. "Our SSD solutions reached 29 percent of revenue in 2014, with strong growth from both client and enterprise SSDs. We are disappointed with our fourth quarter results, which were impacted primarily by supply constraints. We believe that NAND flash industry fundamentals are healthy, and we expect our financial results to improve as we move through 2015."

SanDisk said its board has authorized an additional $2.5 billion for common stock repurchases under its existing program, and now has about $3 billion remaining available for buyback under the expanded program.

Also SanDisk declared a first-quarter cash dividend of 30 cents per share.