BOSTON (AP) _ Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $583.2 million.

The Boston-based company said it had net income of $2.23 per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.70 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.21 per share.

The drugmaker posted revenue of $1.41 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $999.8 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.18 billion, or $4.51 per share. Revenue was reported as $4.16 billion.

Vertex shares have increased 5% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased roughly 2%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $230.04, a climb of 23% 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 VRTX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/VRTX

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News