MIDLAND, Texas (AP) _ Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG) on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $487 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Midland, Texas-based company said it had a loss of $3.04. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $1.93 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.80 per share.

The energy exploration and production company posted revenue of $1.1 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.09 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $240 million, or $1.47 per share. Revenue was reported as $3.96 billion.

Diamondback shares have dropped 20% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $74.56, a decrease of 29% 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 FANG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FANG

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News