SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) has reported its first-quarter earnings for 2015. While earnings in the past had been volatile, the independent leader in flash memory had already lowered guidance. In fact, SanDisk has become a habitual warner when it comes to guidance.

Please note: This story has been updated below.

Earnings from operations came to $134 million, or $0.62 per share, down from $330 million, or $1.44 per share, last year, and compared to $294 million, or $1.30 per share, sequentially. The company’s first-quarter revenue of $1.33 billion was down 12% year-over-year and down 23% sequentially.

Thomson Reuters had the consensus estimates from operations as $0.66 in earnings per share (EPS) and $1.31 billion in revenue. It is one thing to miss by four cents, but the lowered guidance should have set the bar better with reality here. Just a month ago the consensus EPS estimate was $0.88, and 90 days ago it was $1.19.

ALSO READ: Why Analysts Are Upgrading Intel After Earnings

Other items around earnings were as follows (with color from 24/7 Wall St. added):

• SanDisk said that the first quarter operating results included $41 million of restructuring and other charges.
• GAAP earnings was $39 million, or only $0.17 per share, versus $269 million, or $1.14 per share, a year ago. This included a $61 million impairment charge for an in-process R&D project from the Fusion-io acquisition and $41 million of restructuring and other charges. Still, this means GAAP earnings are only 27% of non-GAAP earnings.
• SanDisk did maintain its $0.30 per share dividend for the quarter. Most investors probably would rather that the company not mess up so much on guidance instead of focus on the dividend.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said:

We are disappointed with our financial and operational performance and are quickly taking aggressive measures to regain the excellence in execution that we have delivered in the past. Our top priorities for 2015 are to strengthen our product roadmap and rebuild our momentum across the business. We are excited about the long-term opportunities available to us and believe we are uniquely positioned in the industry to deliver innovative solutions to our growing customer base.

There is one just one problem here. SanDisk’s formal earnings report did not include guidance. Whatever was expected will have to be heard in the conference call.

SanDisk shares closed up 1.1% at $71.12 in Wednesday’s regular trading session. The stock was down 1.2% at $70.25 right at 4:30 p.m. EST, against a 52-week range of $63.00 to $108.77.

Until guidance is known, investors should consider this as unfinished business.

ALSO READ: IBM’s Most Negative Analyst Gets Even More Negative

Updated at 5:30 p.m. for guidance: SanDisk has issued guidance for 2015, and the guidance trend is … Well, it is staying lower all over again. The company sees 2015 revenues at $5.4 billion to $5.7 billion, while consensus is closer to $6.1 billion. Management is claiming that it expects sequential growth in the second half of year, but that means that the guidance is back-end loaded — and we are talking about a company that has a credibility issue now in its forecasting. Lastly, SanDisk said it is now looking to control costs (headcount review).

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.