CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $660 million.

On a per-share basis, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said it had net income of 88 cents. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and to account for discontinued operations, came to 91 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 88 cents per share.

The electric utility posted revenue of $6.1 billion in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $3.75 billion, or $5.06 per share. Revenue was reported as $25.08 billion.

Duke Energy expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.05 to $5.45 per share.

Duke Energy shares have increased slightly more than 7% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 5%. The stock has risen nearly 9% 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 DUK at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DUK

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News