KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) _ Stryker Corp. (SYK) on Thursday reported third-quarter profit of $621 million.

On a per-share basis, the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company said it had profit of $1.63. Earnings, adjusted for amortization costs and pretax expenses, were $2.14 per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.40 per share.

The medical device maker posted revenue of $3.74 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.4 billion.

Stryker shares have dropped 2% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 2.5%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $205.83, a drop of 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 SYK at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SYK

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