EX-99.2 4 f93645exv99w2.htm EXHIBIT 99.2 exv99w2
 

Exhibit 99.2

         
CONTACT:   Investor Contact:
Lori Barker
(408) 542-9565
  Media Contact:
Mike Wong
(408) 548-0223

SANDISK ANNOUNCES RECORD THIRD QUARTER REVENUES AND OPERATING EARNINGS

Year-over-Year Growth in Revenues of 99% and Earnings per Share of 275%

     SUNNYVALE, CA, October 15, 2003 — SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), the world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products, today announced results for the third quarter ended September 28, 2003. Total third quarter revenues grew 99% to $281.4 million compared to the third quarter of 2002 and increased 20% sequentially. Third quarter net income was $50.6 million compared to $11.3 million and $41.3 million for the third quarter of 2002 and the second quarter of 2003, respectively. Earnings per share grew 275% for the third quarter of 2003 and were $0.60 per diluted share compared with $0.16 per diluted share in the same quarter of 2002. Earnings per diluted share grew 15% sequentially and reflect a tax rate of 35% compared to $0.52 per diluted share with a tax rate of 9% in the second quarter of 2003.

     “The third quarter was an outstanding operational quarter for SanDisk,” said Eli Harari, President and CEO of SanDisk Corporation. “Bookings during the quarter were exceptionally strong for both our OEM and retail customers. We exceeded our expectations for third quarter product revenues and total megabytes shipped due to excellent execution in operations and the successful conversion to .13 micron technology. Product gross margins improved to 35% from 32% in the prior quarter due to the benign pricing environment, as well as higher margin contribution from the increasing sales of Secure Digital cards. For the first time we sold more than 10 million total cards during the quarter. In the fourth quarter, we expect to increase our flash shipments from new capacity coming on stream primarily from our FlashVision joint venture. We are also projecting seasonally strong demand for our products and a continuing benign pricing environment.”

Q3 Financial Highlights

    Product revenues were a record $259.4 million, a growth rate of 96% year-over-year and 21% sequentially.
    License and royalty revenues were $22 million, a growth rate of 142% year-over-year and 7% sequentially.
    Total megabytes sold were a record and grew in excess of 250% year-over-year and 27% sequentially.
    Average price per megabyte sold declined 3.4% sequentially and 45% year-over-year.
    Total gross margin was 40% of total revenues and product gross margin was 35%.
    Late in the third quarter, we sold 35 million UMC shares that generated net proceeds of approximately $30 million, $17 million of which is included in our quarter-end cash holdings and $13 million in other current assets. This sale triggered a pre-tax profit of $7 million, a tax provision on the gain, plus a non-cash reversal of a prior year tax related benefit of approximately $9 million. Tax provided on the UMC sale, together with an increase in the third quarter of our


 

      estimate for fiscal 2003 pre-tax income, combined to raise our effective tax rate for the quarter to 35%, up from the approximately 15% we projected at the beginning of the quarter.
    Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $65 million. SanDisk’s cash and short-term investment position increased to $629 million and does not reflect any proceeds from the recently concluded equity offering.
    In connection with the underwritten public offering priced during the third quarter at $65.25 per share, approximately 8.3 million shares of common stock were issued, yielding net proceeds of approximately $522 million. These proceeds, as well as the new 8.3 million shares, will be included in our fourth quarter results.

Q3 Business Highlights

    SanDisk began shipping the fastest flash memory cards in the world with the introduction of SanDisk Ultra II and SanDisk Extreme lines of CompactFlash and SD Flash Memory Cards.
    Unit sales were a record and reflected strength across product lines, channels and geographies.
    SanDisk introduced the Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo flash memory cards. These are physically much smaller Memory Stick formatted cards and are targeted at the new generation of 2.5G and 3.0G cellular phones that require removable high storage capacity for features such as digital cameras, video capture and playback, audio players, games and messaging.
    SanDisk launched Cruzer Mini USB 2.0 “key-chain” flash drives in the third quarter and gained significant momentum in this high-growth market.
    Michael Marks, president and chief executive officer of Flextronics, joined SanDisk’s board of directors.

Business Outlook

     We are optimistic about our business prospects in the fourth quarter of the year. We continue to expand our capacity and are maximizing our flash memory supply from both captive and non-captive sources. Following the trend of the previous two years, we expect that our fourth quarter will be seasonally strong in retail, and that our primary challenge will be to meet consumer demand for our products. Our 2003 total revenue is forecasted to exceed $1.0 billion, up from our September projection of $950 million. License and royalty revenues are projected to be approximately $24 million. Product gross margin is expected to be in the range of 32-36%, reflecting a continuing benign pricing environment, lower product costs from our captive .13 micron flash memory and higher flash memory costs from our non-captive sources. Operating expenses are forecasted to increase by approximately 13-15%. The effective tax rate is projected to be 20-22%. An increase in interest income is anticipated due to the proceeds from our underwritten public offering and our share count will increase by approximately 8.3 million shares. Additional share count changes will largely be a function of the average quarterly stock price.

Separate Announcement

     SanDisk separately announced today that it was advised late yesterday by its Taiwanese law firm, Lee and Li, one of the largest law firms in Asia, that one of Lee and Li’s attorneys had fraudulently sold, and misappropriated the proceeds from shares of SanDisk’s United Microelectronics Corporation stock held by Lee and Li on behalf of SanDisk pursuant to a power of attorney. The third quarter financial results included in this press release do not account for this theft. The amount of loss, if any, is not determinable at this time. Any amount that is not fully repaid may result in non-operating accounting charges in the periods corresponding to the dates of the fraudulent sales.

Forward-Looking Statements

     This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including our business outlook,


 

expectations for new product introductions, capacity, future product revenues, average selling prices, gross margins, operating margins and tax rates, that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate and may significantly and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: fluctuations in operating results, yields and possible delays related to Toshiba’s conversion to .13 micron technology, delays in qualification of new .13 micron product components, any interruption of supply from any of the semiconductor manufacturing facilities that supply products to us, particularly Toshiba’s Yokkaichi facility, future average selling price erosion due to excess industry capacity, price increases from non-captive flash memory sources and third party subcontractors, current global economic and geo-political conditions, the timely development, internal qualification and customer acceptance of new products such as the new miniSD and Cruzer Mini, as well as new products that are based on the NAND and NAND/MLC .13 micron flash chips, fluctuations in royalty revenues, business interruption due to earthquakes or other natural disasters, particularly in areas in the Pacific Rim where we manufacture and assemble products, further impairment of our investments in Tower Semiconductor Ltd. and UMC due to any decline in stock valuations, losses related to the fraudulent sale of our UMC stock that may not be fully repaid and may result in accounting charges in the periods corresponding to the date of fraudulent sale, an increase in our fourth quarter tax rate if we recover and sell UMC shares in the fourth quarter, and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, the prospectus filed on September 25, 2003, the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 29, 2003 and the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2002. Future results may differ materially from those previously reported. We assume no obligation to update the information contained in this release.

About SanDisk

     SanDisk Corporation, the world’s largest supplier of flash storage card products, designs, manufactures and markets industry-standard, solid-state data, digital imaging and audio storage products using its patented, high-density flash memory and controller technology. SanDisk is based in Sunnyvale, CA.

Conference Call

     SanDisk’s third quarter 2003 conference call is scheduled for 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time, Wednesday, October 15, 2003. The conference call is being webcast by CCBN and can be accessed live, and throughout the quarter, at SanDisk’s website at www.sandisk.com/IR and at www.streetevents.com for registered streetevents.com users. To participate in the call via telephone, the dial in number is (800) 946-0713 or (719) 457-2642. The call will also be available by telephone replay after 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time on October 15, 2003 through Sunday, October 19, 2003, by dialing (888) 203-1112 or (719) 457-0820 and entering the pass code 599165. A copy of this press release will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on a current report on Form 8-K and will be posted to our website.

     SanDisk’s web site / home page address: http://www.sandisk.com

     All trade names are either registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.


 

SanDisk Corporation
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income
(In thousands, except per share data, unaudited)

                                     
        Three Months Ended   Nine Months Ended
       
 
        September 28,   September 29,   September 28,   September 29,
        2003   2002   2003   2002
       
 
 
 
Revenues:
                               
 
Product
  $ 259,446     $ 132,050     $ 628,938     $ 334,186  
 
License and royalty
    21,954       9,078       61,568       27,259  
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Total revenue
    281,400       141,128       690,506       361,445  
Cost of product revenues
    167,765       86,787       416,508       252,570  
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Gross profits
    113,635       54,341       273,998       108,875  
Operating expenses:
                               
 
Research and development
    22,010       14,026       58,937       45,849  
 
Sales and marketing
    16,899       10,742       45,066       28,607  
 
General and administrative
    7,923       7,661       21,847       18,918  
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Total operating expenses
    46,832       32,429       125,850       93,374  
Operating income
    66,803       21,912       148,148       15,501  
Equity in (loss) income of joint ventures
    51       (963 )     90       284  
Interest income
    1,611       2,054       5,622       6,551  
Interest expense
    (1,688 )     (1,744 )     (5,063 )     (5,107 )
Gain (loss) in investment in foundries
    6,662       (1,201 )     3,079       (1,201 )
Gain (loss) in equity investment
    4,352       (900 )     (148 )     (900 )
Other (loss), net
    (149 )     (639 )     (1,004 )     (2,622 )
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Income before taxes
    77,642       18,519       150,724       12,506  
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes
    27,081       7,195       33,912       (4,124 )
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Net income
  $ 50,561     $ 11,324     $ 116,812     $ 16,630  
 
 
   
     
     
     
 
Net income per share
                               
   
Basic
  $ 0.71     $ 0.16     $ 1.67     $ 0.24  
   
Diluted
  $ 0.60     $ 0.16     $ 1.47     $ 0.23  
Shares used in computing net income per share
                               
   
Basic
    70,731       68,854       69,874       68,721  
   
Diluted
    85,781       79,003       82,702       70,948  

 


 

SanDisk Corporation
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands)

                         
            September 28, 2003   December 29, 2002*
           
 
ASSETS   (unaudited)        
Current Assets:
               
   
Cash and cash equivalents
  $ 253,267     $ 266,635  
   
Short-term investments
    375,476       189,856  
   
Investment in foundries
    155,413       110,069  
   
Accounts receivable, net
    139,946       81,086  
   
Inventories
    94,759       88,595  
   
Prepaid expenses, other current assets and tax receivable
    26,363       18,489  
 
   
     
 
     
Total current assets
    1,045,224       754,730  
   
Property and equipment, net
    51,223       30,307  
   
Investment in foundries
          24,197  
   
Investment in FlashVision
    142,645       142,825  
   
Deferred tax asset
    6,156       6,922  
   
Deposits and other non-current assets
    8,384       14,598  
 
   
     
 
       
Total Assets
  $ 1,253,632     $ 973,579  
 
   
     
 
 
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:
               
Current Liabilities:
               
   
Accounts payable
  $ 78,493     $ 28,294  
   
Accounts payable to related parties
    37,799       26,349  
   
Accrued payroll and related expenses
    18,480       11,690  
   
Income taxes payable
    19,778       15,978  
   
Deferred tax liability
    1,358       6,922  
   
Research and development liability, related party
    6,500       10,507  
   
Other accrued liabilities
    32,331       26,780  
   
Deferred income on shipments to distributors and retailers and deferred revenue
    63,444       43,760  
 
   
     
 
     
Total current liabilities
    258,183       170,280  
   
Convertible subordinated notes payable
    150,000       150,000  
   
Other liabilities
    1,005       2,404  
   
Deferred revenue
    22,944       23,175  
 
   
     
 
     
Total Liabilities
    432,132       345,859  
   
Commitments and contingencies
               
Stockholders’ Equity:
               
   
Preferred stock
           
   
Common stock
    621,734       585,968  
   
Retained earnings
    201,577       84,765  
   
Accumulated other comprehensive loss
    (1,811 )     (43,013 )
 
   
     
 
     
Total stockholders’ equity
    821,500       627,720  
       
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity
  $ 1,253,632     $ 973,579  
 
   
     
 

*Information derived from the audited Consolidated Financial Statements.