NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Ingersoll-Rand Co., the maker of Bobcat machinery and Thermo-King refrigerated trucks, said profit fell in the third quarter on tax-related costs.Profit from continuing operations dropped to $254 million, or 79 cents a share, from $256.1 million, or 75 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 5.8 percent to $2.77 billion, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company said on Friday.

The results trailed analysts’ estimates. Sales of Bobcat products declined more than 20 percent, hurt by an “unexpectedly severe deterioration” in compact equipment purchases in North America and distributors reducing their inventories. That offset gains in other units such as security and climate control.

“Our overall performance was unsatisfactory,” chief executive officer Herbert Henkel said in the statement. “We will take immediate corrective actions.”

He didn’t give details of the plan, saying the company would focus on cost control, including “restructuring actions where warranted.”

Profit excluding some items was 85 cents a share. That missed the 86-cent average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Thomson doesn’t disclose to Bloomberg News what items are included in the projections. Sales estimates averaged $2.85 billion.

Ingersoll-Rand shares rose 42 cents to $38.90 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They had fallen 3.6 percent this year before today.

Results this quarter and this year also will be hurt by the slump in North American compact equipment sales, slowing growth in the road machinery business there and a reduction in security demand as residential construction cools.

Fourth-quarter revenue may rise 3 percent, with earnings at 70 cents to 75 cents a share, Ingersoll-Rand said. Profit from continuing operations will be 74 cents to 79 cents. Analysts on average expected 92 cents, according to Thomson Financial.

That puts earnings at $3.16 to $3.21 this year, with profit from continuing operations at $3.37 to $3.42 a share, excluding the $27 million tax costs, Ingersoll-Rand said. Estimates averaged $3.50.

Ingersoll-Rand, run from Montvale, New Jersey, said October 13 it would record $27 million of costs, or 8 cents a share, in the third quarter to add to its reserves for a tax audit. On October 6, the Internal Revenue Service proposed adjustments in connection with a review of its tax filings from 1998 to 2000.

The adjustments, which Ingersoll-Rand said it plans to dispute, consist of the disallowance of some capital losses that would result in additional taxes and penalties of about $155 million, plus interest of about $62 million, the company said.

Henkel plans to spend about $400 million on acquisitions this year. In the past two months, the company bought filter- maker ZEKS Compressed Air Solutions, BOC Edwards’s air pressure business and Geith International, a maker of industrial attachments.