MILWAUKEE (AP) _ A.O. Smith Corp. (AOS) on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $120.1 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Milwaukee-based company said it had a loss of 78 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 86 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 79 cents per share.

The maker of water heaters and boilers posted revenue of $936.1 million in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $912.3 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $235.7 million, or $1.51 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.75 billion.

A.O. Smith expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.15 to $3.45 per share, with revenue in the range of $3.64 billion to $3.87 billion.

A.O. Smith shares have increased 4% since the beginning of the year. The stock has fallen 21% 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 AOS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AOS

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