SAINT PAUL, Minn. (AP) _ Ecolab Inc. (ECL) on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $301 million.

On a per-share basis, the Saint Paul, Minnesota-based company said it had profit of $1.04. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.28 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.27 per share.

The cleaning, food-safety and pest-control services company posted revenue of $3.36 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.19 billion.

For the year, the company reported net income of $1.13 billion, or $3.91 per share, swinging to a profit in the period. Revenue was reported as $12.73 billion.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ECL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ECL

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