ATLANTA (AP) _ PulteGroup Inc. (PHM) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $438.1 million.

On a per-share basis, the Atlanta-based company said it had profit of $1.62. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $1.49 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.38 per share.

The homebuilder posted revenue of $3.19 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.11 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.41 billion, or $5.18 per share. Revenue was reported as $11.04 billion.

PulteGroup shares have risen nearly 10% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has risen roughly 7% 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 PHM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PHM

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