ELGIN, Ill. (AP) _ The Middleby Corp. (MIDD) on Monday reported fourth-quarter profit of $51.8 million.

The Elgin, Illinois-based company said it had profit of 94 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.62 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.42 per share.

The food preparation equipment company posted revenue of $729.3 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $695.7 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $207.3 million, or $3.76 per share. Revenue was reported as $2.51 billion.

Middleby shares have risen 14% since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased 29% 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 MIDD at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MIDD

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