MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ Exact Sciences Corp. (EXAS) on Wednesday reported a loss of $105.7 million in its first quarter.

The Madison, Wisconsin-based company said it had a loss of 71 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and to extinguish debt, were 60 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 57 cents per share.

The molecular diagnostics company posted revenue of $347.8 million in the period, topping Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $347.6 million.

Exact Sciences shares have decreased 16% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $77.90, a fall 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 EXAS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/EXAS

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News