BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) _ Ball Corp. (BLL) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $23 million.

The Broomfield, Colorado-based company said it had profit of 7 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 61 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 60 cents per share.

The metal packaging company posted revenue of $2.79 billion in the period, which fell short of Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.84 billion.

Ball shares have increased nearly 2% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has dropped 12%. The stock has climbed 6% 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 BLL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BLL

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News