WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (AEL) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $8.7 million.

On a per-share basis, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based company said it had net income of 7 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 77 cents per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 98 cents per share.

The annuity and insurance underwriter posted revenue of $1.03 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $521.7 million, also missing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $534.5 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $671.5 million, or $6.90 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.18 billion.

American Equity shares have increased almost 8% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $29.78, a decrease of 10% 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 AEL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AEL

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