Brightpoint 3Q profit doubles on tax benefit boost

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Cell phone distributor Brightpoint Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter profit more than doubled, helped by tax benefits.

Quarterly earnings jumped to $11.2 million, or 14 cents per share, from $5.5 million, or 6 cents per share, in the same period last year. The results included an $8.2 million tax-related gain, compared with a $5.6 million tax expense in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding that and other one-time items, Brightpoint said it earned 13 cents per share, two cents better than Wall Street was expecting, according to a Thomson Reuters survey of analysts.

Revenue fell 26 percent to $867.9 million from $1.2 billion in the year-ago quarter. Brightpoint said its distribution business handled 11 percent fewer wireless devices, and those it did sell were less expensive on average.

The results still topped analysts' $753 million estimate.

Brightpoint said that during the quarter it reached its goal of eliminating 220 jobs, part of a cost-cutting plan announced in February.