BURLINGTON, N.C. (AP) _ Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings (LH) on Tuesday reported third-quarter net income of $703.4 million.

On a per-share basis, the Burlington, North Carolina-based company said it had profit of $7.17. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $8.41 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $5.29 per share.

The medical laboratory operator posted revenue of $3.9 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.72 billion.

LabCorp shares have risen 19% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 5%. The stock has risen 23% 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 LH at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LH

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