WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (AEL) on Thursday reported a loss of $54.7 million in its second quarter.

On a per-share basis, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based company said it had a loss of 69 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 98 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 53 cents per share.

The annuity and insurance underwriter posted revenue of $1.08 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $499.3 million, also exceeding Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $483.9 million.

American Equity shares have climbed 14% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $31.48, a rise of 16% 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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