SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ Cadence Design Systems Inc. (CDNS) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $659.7 million.

On a per-share basis, the San Jose, California-based company said it had net income of $2.36. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 54 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 53 cents per share.

The maker of hardware and software products for validating chip designs posted revenue of $599.6 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $596.4 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $989 million, or $3.53 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.34 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Cadence expects its per-share earnings to range from 53 cents to 55 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $610 million to $620 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Cadence expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.40 to $2.50 per share, with revenue ranging from $2.55 billion to $2.59 billion.

Cadence shares have increased 11% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $77.10, an increase of 48% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CDNS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CDNS

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News