Profit Triples at Flextronics

Updated from 4:39 p.m. EST

Flextronics (FLEX Quote) topped analysts' third-quarter expectations as profit nearly tripled.

The Singapore-based electronics manufacturing services firm said Tuesday that it earned $119 million, or 20 cents a share, jumping from $42 million, or 7 cents a share, a year earlier when the company took $63.1 million in charges.

Excluding certain items such as after-tax gains, losses on divestitures, intangible amortization, restructuring, stock-based compensation and other charges, Flextronics earned $136 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $118 million, or 20 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2005.

Flextronics posted revenue of $5.42 billion, growing 31% from $4.13 billion in the year-ago quarter.

For the quarter, analysts anticipated an EPS of 22 cents on sales of $5.22 billion.

The company's mobile business had a strong quarter, contributing 36% to sales, up from 31% in the same period last year. Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Sony(SNE Quote) and Ericsson(ERIC Quote) was the company's largest customer, supplying more than 10% of revenue for the three-month period.

On a conference call with financial analysts after the bell, Flextronics CEO Mike McNamara said the company is continuing to add capacity in Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine, China and Malaysia, which is boosting growth as well.

The company is "focused on broadening our tool box" and has made a number of acquisitions in previous months to build a stronger portfolio of capabilities for its customers, McNamara said. In November, Flextronics picked up International DisplayWorks, a maker of small LCD displays.