SEATTLE (AP) _ Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $278 million.

On a per-share basis, the Seattle-based company said it had profit of 3 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 21 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 15 cents per share.

The online retailer posted revenue of $149.2 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $145.37 billion.

For the current quarter ending in March, Amazon said it expects revenue in the range of $121 billion to $126 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $121.33 billion.

Amazon shares have risen 34% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has risen almost 9%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $112.44, a fall of 25% 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 AMZN at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMZN

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