PURCHASE, N.Y. (AP) _ MasterCard Inc. (MA) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $2.53 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Purchase, New York-based company said it had net income of $2.62. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to $2.65 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.56 per share.

The processor of debit and credit card payments posted revenue of $5.82 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.77 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $9.93 billion, or $10.22 per share. Revenue was reported as $22.24 billion.

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

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