SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) _ ServiceNow Inc. (NOW) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $16.6 million.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said it had profit of 8 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $1.17 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.06 per share.

The maker of software that automates companies' technology operations posted revenue of $1.25 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.22 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $118.5 million, or 59 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $4.52 billion.

ServiceNow shares have decreased 6% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $516.50, an increase of 68% 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 NOW at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NOW

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