SAN DIEGO (AP) _ NuVasive Inc. (NUVA) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $29.9 million.

On a per-share basis, the San Diego-based company said it had profit of 55 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 73 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 63 cents per share.

The spinal device maker posted revenue of $310.4 million in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $65.2 million, or $1.23 per share. Revenue was reported as $1.17 billion.

NuVasive expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.55 to $2.65 per share.

NuVasive shares have climbed 2% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $78.97, an increase of 42% 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 NUVA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NUVA

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News