SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) _ Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $253 million.

The Secaucus, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of $1.86 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.67 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.60 per share.

The medical laboratory operator posted revenue of $1.93 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.92 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $858 million, or $6.28 per share. Revenue was reported as $7.73 billion.

Quest Diagnostics expects full-year revenue in the range of $7.8 billion to $7.96 billion.

Quest Diagnostics shares have increased 4% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed slightly more than 1%. The stock has risen 29% 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 DGX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DGX

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News