ISSAQUAH, Wash. (AP) _ Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $1.22 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Issaquah, Washington-based company said it had net income of $2.75.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.29 per share.

The warehouse club operator posted revenue of $45.28 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $45.2 billion.

Costco shares have risen nearly 3% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has risen 12%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $387.50, a rise of 27% 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 COST at https://www.zacks.com/ap/COST

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