fiscal third-quarter profit rose 62 percent, beating expectations, as its strategy of boosting profit through acquisitions pays off.

Profit before charges rose to $320.2 million, or 54 cents a diluted share, from $197.9 million, or 36 cents, in the year-earlier period. Tyco was expected to earn 51 cents, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.

Tyco is on a buying spree, spending more than $11 billion in acquisitions in the past year, including $425 million for Borg-Warner Security Corp.'s electronic alarm unit in the quarter. Tyco buys businesses it expects to add to earnings immediately in each of its four main units -- electronics, medical products, security systems and valves -- and succeeds, analysts said.

"They're still my top pick,'' said Lehman Brothers Inc. analyst Phua Young, who rates the stock a "buy'' and also boosted his 1998 earnings estimate to $2.00 a diluted share from $1.93.

Sales for the quarter ended June 30 rose 27 percent to $3.24 billion from $2.55 billion, led in part by the medical products unit.

Without the effects of a rising dollar, sales would have climbed 32 percent, Tyco Chief Executive Dennis Kozlowski said during a conference call with analysts on Friday. About 30 percent of Tyco's total sales come from outside the US, the company said.

Shares of Hamilton, Bermuda-based Tyco fell 1 to 67 9/16. The stock has climbed about 73 percent in the past year.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. analyst Vivian Kuan also raised her 1998 earnings estimate to $1.96 a share from $1.93. She rates the stock a "buy'', and expects the stock to reach 83 in 12 months.

A rising dollar hurts sales from overseas because the local currency converts into fewer dollars.

In the quarter, a charge for early debt repayment of $1 million, or less than one cent a share, resulted in net income of $319.2 million, or 54 cents.

In the year-ago quarter, charges of $59.4 million, or 11 cents a diluted share, made net income $138.5 million, or 25 cents.

Tyco continued its shopping spree in the quarter, agreeing to spend more than $4.38 billion in acquisitions, including that of US Surgical Corp. in May for $3.89 billion.

The company expects to take a charge of $350 million to $400 million for the US Surgical purchase, expected to close in October, Kozlowski said on Friday.

Tyco had previously said it expected to take charges of "several hundred million dollars''.

Tyco doesn't expect regulatory problems with the purchase, Kozlowski said. -- Bloomberg