Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., the world's second-largest network-security company, said profit rose 8 percent in the third quarter as sales grew on larger orders.

Net income rose to $76.7 million, or 34 cents a share, from $71 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier, the Redwood City, California-based company said today in a Business Wire statement. Revenue rose 29 percent to $184 million from $142.5 million.

Check Point acquired two companies last year to add data encryption and intrusion detection offerings after growth in its main firewall and virtual private network units slowed. The purchases have allowed it to offer broader packages to customers, driving up the size of each order.

The company said transactions greater than $50,000 accounted for 40 percent of total order value while 15 orders were larger than $1 million.

``We continue to be pleased with the performance of our data security business as we continue to lead this new and emerging market,'' Chief Executive Officer Gil Shwed said in the statement. The core network business was doing better than expected, he said.

Excluding a $7.5 million acquisition-related charge and $7.7 million in equity-related compensation expenses, net income was $91.9 million or 41 cents a share, higher than the median estimates of $85.8 million and 38 cents a share from four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Check Point shares have risen 25 percent in the past 12 months compared with a 16.4 percent gain of the Nasdaq composite index.

Check Point acquired Pointsec, a maker of data-encryption technology for storing sensitive information on laptops and other mobile devices, when it bought Sweden's Protect Data AB last January. Pointsec was approved as a U.S. Defense Department vendor in July.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 22, 2007 04:49 EDT