ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) _ Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APD) on Monday reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $533.6 million.

On a per-share basis, the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company said it had profit of $2.40. Earnings, adjusted for pretax gains and to account for discontinued operations, were $2.31 per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.39 per share.

The seller of gases for industrial, medical and other uses posted revenue of $2.6 billion in the period.

For the current quarter ending in September, Air Products and Chemicals expects its per-share earnings to range from $2.44 to $2.54. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $2.56.

The company expects full-year earnings in the range of $8.95 to $9.05 per share.

Air Products and Chemicals shares have risen slightly more than 6% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 18%. The stock has risen 3% 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 APD at https://www.zacks.com/ap/APD

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