RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) _ Casella Waste Systems Inc. (CWST) on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $959,000, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Rutland, Vermont-based company said it had profit of 2 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 5 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 3 cents per share.

The provider of garbage-disposal and recycling services posted revenue of $182.9 million in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $180.4 million.

Casella shares have increased roughly 3% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $47.29, an increase of 26% 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 CWST at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CWST

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News