You are given a text that consists of multiple sentences. Your task is to perform abstractive summarization on this text. Use your understanding of the content to express the main ideas and crucial details in a shorter, coherent, and natural sounding text. 
Text: First, I hope everyone is safe and healthy given the virus is going on.
But this is Al Nahmad, Chairman and CEO, and with me is AJ Nahmad, President; our two Executive Vice Presidents, Paul Johnston and Barry Logan; and Rick Gomez, Vice President.
Now, I'm pleased to share that Watsco delivered another record quarter.
New records were achieved in virtually every performance metric.
Earnings per share jumped 31% to a record $3.62 per share on a 32% increase in net income.
Sales grew 16% or nearly $250 million during the quarter to a record $1,780 million.
Gross profit increased 29% with gross margins expanding 280 basis points.
Operating income increased $50 million or 32% to a record $207 million.
Operating margins expanded 100 basis points to a record 11.6%, and cash flow for the quarter was a record $238 million.
Today's results are all the more positive when considered against last year's record results and in light of the industry wide supply challenges that are still going on.
Our teams throughout all of Watsco are doing an extraordinary job taking care of customers and that has made a big difference.
We also ended the quarter with a strong balance sheet with virtually no debt and cash for $137 million.
This financial strength provides us the flexibility to invest in most any size opportunity.
An important fundamental is Watsco geographic coverage and our large number of locations across many markets.
The diversity and markets we serve reduces volatility and provides stability during a difficult operating environment such as the one we are witnessing.
Also our large and growing customer base is increasingly equipped with our state-of-the-art technology that helps our customers grow their business and purchase more from us.
Another advantage now and in the future is our offerings of the broadest variety of products and brands in the industry, the depth and diversity of our product offerings to continue to serve us well.
We're optimistic about current market conditions, let me say that again optimistic about current market conditions and recent trends and market demand remain strong and we see signs of improvement in our OEM's ability to help us to fulfill that demand.
Looking ahead, the industry will experience more change in the years to come as minimum SEER standards rise, that's normally will -- done by the federal government by the way and refrigerant changes that take shape in the coming years.
And with changes come opportunities.
We believe that our long-term focus are scale, speed to market, relationship with OEMs, technology offerings position us better than anyone to capitalize on these upcoming changes.
We are living in unusual times but could not be more positive and excited about the future of the industry and our role in it.
Now let's go on to our Q&A.

user
compname posts q3 earnings per share $3.62.
watsco generates record third quarter performance earnings per share jumps 31% to a record $3.62 on record sales of $1.78 billion.
q3 earnings per share $3.62.
16% sales growth to $1.78 billion in quarter.

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