CHICAGO (AP) _ Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $504 million.

On a per-share basis, the Chicago-based company said it had net income of 90 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and asset impairment costs, came to $1.42 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 79 cents per share.

The agribusiness giant posted revenue of $16.33 billion in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.38 billion, or $2.44 per share. Revenue was reported as $64.66 billion.

ADM shares have decreased almost 6% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed slightly more than 1%. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $43.77, a fall of 1% 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 ADM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ADM

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News