HOUSTON (AP) _ Waste Management Inc. (WM) on Tuesday reported second-quarter profit of $351 million.

The Houston-based company said it had net income of 83 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted to extinguish debt and for non-recurring costs, came to $1.27 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.18 per share.

The garbage and recycling hauler posted revenue of $4.48 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.26 billion.

Waste Management shares have climbed 24% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 18%. The stock has risen 37% 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 WM at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WM

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