BALTIMORE (AP) _ Medifast Inc. (MED) on Monday reported third-quarter profit of $34.5 million.

The Baltimore-based company said it had profit of $2.91 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.49 per share.

The weight-loss company posted revenue of $271.5 million in the period.

Medifast shares have increased 33% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Monday, shares hit $146.24, an increase of 32% 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 MED at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MED

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