NEEDHAM, Mass. (AP) _ TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) on Thursday reported a third-quarter loss of $48 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

The Needham, Massachusetts-based company said it had a loss of 36 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 17 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 29 cents per share.

The travel website operator posted revenue of $151 million in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $147.7 million.

TripAdvisor shares have dropped 32% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased nearly 9%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $20.55, a fall of 50% 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 TRIP at https://www.zacks.com/ap/TRIP

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