UPDATE 3-MeadWestvaco profit tops Wall St estimate

* Q3 EPS 50 cents tops Wall St view of 27 cents

* Cost-cutting to reduce workforce by 10 pct

* Stock up slightly (Adds analyst comment. Updates stock movement)

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Consumer packaging maker MeadWestvaco Corp (MWV.N) posted higher-than-expected third-quarter profit on Wednesday, boosted in part by a massive restructuring that will cull 10 percent of its global workforce.

Net earnings rose to $128 million, or 74 cents per share, from $46 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said.

Excluding restructuring charges, gains from alternative fuel tax credits and other one-time items, the company posted profit of 50 cents per share, topping analysts' average forecast of 27 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net sales fell 10 percent to $1.63 billion, but beat analysts' estimates of $1.57 billion.

Sterne Agee analyst Mark Connelly praised the company's cost cuts and modest volume improvement.

"MeadWestvaco's diversified portfolio of businesses offer few synergies, but all appear to be bottoming in volume terms, while the company is showing far better cost discipline than a year ago," he said in a note to clients.

In January, MeadWestvaco said it would slash costs in its corporate and business units.

More than 2,000 workers, or 10 percent of the global workforce, will be laid off by year's end, and 16 plants will be closed or reconfigured, the company said.

MeadWestvaco largely completed the overhead and facility actions during the third quarter. Cumulative savings through the first three quarters of 2009 reached $90 million, and the company expects to exceed its full-year overhead savings target of $125 million.

Shares rose 22 cents to $22.99 in morning trading. The stock has traded between $7.53 and $25.01 in the past 52 weeks. (Reporting by Matt Daily, Ernest Scheyder and Steve James; Editing by Derek Caney and Lisa Von Ahn)