UPDATE 6-Pfizer 3rd-quarter profit rises, tops Street

* Q3 $0.51 excluding items vs estimate of $0.48

* Revenue down 3 pct to $11.6 bln

* Shares flat, paring gains

* Sees FY adjusted EPS $2.00 to $2.05 with Wyeth (Adds job cut details from CFO, updates share price)

By Bill Berkrot

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) reported higher third-quarter profit as aggressive cost-cutting offset a negative foreign exchange impact and declining sales of drugs, including those facing competition from cheaper generics.

Despite slow growth of some newer drugs and declines for many of its established medicines, sales were still better-than-expected and lower costs and job cuts allowed Pfizer to top Wall Street estimates for the quarter, sending its shares up as much as 2.4 percent before paring gains.

The world's biggest drugmaker, which got much bigger last week with completion of a $67.3 billion acquisition of Wyeth, posted a net profit of $2.88 billion, or 43 cents per share in its last pre-merger quarter, compared with a profit of $2.28 billion, or 34 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding items, Pfizer earned 51 cents per share, exceeding analysts' average expectations by 3 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales declined 3 percent to $11.6 billion, but that also topped analysts' estimates of $11.41 billion.

"The quarter was very good," said Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan. "Revenues were higher than expected. They beat the earnings number by 3 cents despite a 31.8 percent tax rate, which reflects the repatriation of cash."

Pfizer's bought Wyeth to help soften the 2011 blow from the loss of U.S. patent protection on the cholesterol drug Lipitor -- the world's biggest-selling prescription medicine -- by adding Wyeth's lucrative vaccines and biologic medicines.

Lipitor's worldwide sales for the third quarter declined 9 percent to $2.9 billion. They were down 12 percent in the United States, amid competition from cheap generic versions of rival cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Pfizer updated its full year forecast to include Wyeth sales and operations following the Oct. 15 closing of the acquisition -- its third mega-deal in the last nine years after swallowing up Warner-Lambert in 2000 and Pharmacia in 2003.

The company now expects revenue of $49 billion to $50 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.00 to $2.05 per share, up from its pre-Wyeth view of $1.30 to $1.45 per share.

"I think people are optimistic about the opportunities for earnings and cash flow over the next couple of years primarily as a function of the Wyeth acquisition," Ryan said.