Third-quarter sales and earnings rose at single-digit clips for Medtronic, the world's largest medical device company.

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) posted profit and sales gains during its fiscal 3rd quarter this morning, eating Wall Street analysts' earnings expectations along the way.

The Fridley, Minn.-based company, which is the world's largest pure-play medical device company, said profits were up 5.7% on sales growth of 2.8% for the 3 months ended Jan. 25.

Medtronic reported profits of $988 million, or 97¢ per share, on sales of $4.03 billion for the quarter. Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were 93¢, 2¢ ahead of expectations on The Street.