SAINT PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Ecolab Inc. (ECL) on Tuesday reported third-quarter profit of $246.2 million.

On a per-share basis, the Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company said it had profit of 85 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.15 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.09 per share.

The cleaning, food-safety and pest-control services company posted revenue of $3.02 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.97 billion.

Ecolab shares have climbed roughly 3% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed slightly more than 5%. The stock has climbed roughly 4% 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 ECL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ECL

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