FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. (AP) _ Becton Dickinson and Co. (BDX) on Thursday reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $265 million.

On a per-share basis, the Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of 84 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.59 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.43 per share.

The medical device manufacturer posted revenue of $5.14 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.9 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $2.09 billion, or $6.85 per share. Revenue was reported as $20.25 billion.

Becton Dickinson expects full-year earnings in the range of $12.30 to $12.50 per share, with revenue in the range of $19.3 billion to $19.5 billion.

Becton Dickinson shares have dropped roughly 1% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has risen 25%. The stock has climbed 4.5% 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 BDX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BDX

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