KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) _ Stryker Corp. (SYK) on Wednesday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $568 million.

On a per-share basis, the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company said it had net income of $1.49. Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs and costs related to mergers and acquisitions, were $2.81 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.55 per share.

The medical device maker posted revenue of $4.26 billion in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.3 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $1.6 billion, or $4.20 per share. Revenue was reported as $14.35 billion.

Stryker shares have decreased almost 6% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $231.08, a rise of roughly 8% 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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