BANNOCKBURN, Ill. (AP) _ Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter net income of $48.5 million, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the Bannockburn, Illinois-based company said it had net income of 53 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 59 cents per share.

The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 64 cents per share.

The medical waste management company posted revenue of $655.9 million in the period, which beat Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $646.5 million.

For the year, the company reported that its loss narrowed to $57.3 million, or 63 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $2.68 billion.

Stericycle shares have dropped nearly 1% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 4.5%. The stock has risen 5% 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 SRCL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SRCL

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