yesterday that fourth-quarter operating earnings rose 40 percent, beating Wall Street estimates, on double-digit internal growth, surging electronics sales and the integration of big-ticket acquisitions.

Tyco, which also makes telecom, medical and fire protection products, earned operating income of $1.1 billion, or 64 cents a diluted share, before special items, compared with $782.7 million, or 46 cents a diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts, on average, were looking for Tyco to earn 63 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Net income rose to $1.9 billion or $1.12 per diluted share from $780.5 million or 46 cents per share in last year's fourth quarter.

Tyco shares moved up $1-3/8, or 3 percent, to $52-7/8 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, below its 52-week high of $59-3/16.

Special items in the fourth quarter included Tyco's $1.76 billion pretax gain from the initial public offering of TyCom Ltd. its majority-owned subsidiary that lays undersea fiber-optic cable. Tyco also recorded restructuring and impairment charges of $299 million during the quarter.

Fourth-quarter sales at Tyco -- based in Bermuda, but with headquarters in Exeter, New Hamshire -- rose 25 percent to $7.81 billion, up from $6.22 billion in the year-ago quarter.

"Business is good and the outlook is even better,'' Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski said during a conference call with analysts. He said he was comfortable with average analysts' estimates looking for Tyco to earn $2.70 a share during fiscal year 2001.

Tyco's electronic operations posted a 66 percent increase in sales from the introduction of new products such as high-speed connectors and wireless components and the integration of three acquisitions, the company said.

Fourth-quarter operating profits from electronics increased 69 percent to $746.8 million on sales of $2.88 billion, the company said.

"I thought they had an outstanding quarter,'' said Ed Wheeler, an analyst at Buckingham Research. He cited free cash flow of $1.4 billion and 14 percent organic growth posted by Tyco in the fourth quarter.

Last week, Tyco completed its $4.2 billion acquisition of St. Louis, Missouri-based Mallinckrodt Inc., a leading maker of disposable medical products. Kozlowski sees double-digit sales growth in 2001 from Mallinckrodt operations.

For the fiscal 2000 year ended September 30, Tyco's earnings before special charges rose 42 percent to $3.73 billion, or $2.18 per diluted share. Revenues for the year rose 29 percent to $28.93 billion.

After the fiscal year ended September 30, Tyco said it received $1 billion in cash from the sale of its ADT Automotive business.

Kozlowski said the company's full-year cash flow of $3.3 billion generated from organic growth and new acquisitions has put Tyco on course for "another solid year in 2001.''